Destined Flight
by Scyphi
Summary: When an attack results in Jet gaining an ability he shouldn't have naturally, the rest of the gang is immediately suspicious, particularly when it becomes clear there's more to it than what meets the eye. Only Jet isn't about to part with it... R&R!
1. Surprise Attack

Summary: When an unprecedented attack on their airship results in Jet the Hawk gaining an ability he shouldn't have naturally, the rest of the gang is immediately suspicious, particularly when it becomes clear there's more to it than what meets the eye. Only Jet isn't about to part with it...

Rating: T (for violence, and probably depressing material later on)

Author's Note: Presenting the first chapter of a Sonic The Hedgehog fic that I think will be fairly well-received by those who read it, but like so many things in life, only time will tell. This is a kind of follow up and/or sequel to the oneshot "Flight" I wrote and posted not too long ago, which will take the theme of that oneshot and expand upon it greatly. If you have not read said oneshot, though, you are not required to. The necessary details will be repeated in this work for the benefit of those who have not read it. This takes place after "Sonic Free Riders" and probably "Sonic Colors" as well, and it focuses mostly on the Babylon Rogues, but Eggman, Sonic, Tails, and possibly a few others will appear and/or cameo later in the story. And as with any fanfic, please read and review! :)

"Destined Flight"

1.

Surprise Attack

"Well, that was a complete waste of time."

Storm made the comment innocently enough, and he did it mostly to just try and break the resounding silence that hung within the airship of the Babylon Rogues. Ever since the airship had taken off from Apotos about a half-hour earlier, very little conversation of any sort had taken place, especially between Jet and Wave, both of which were annoyed at the situation, and at each other.

While the rogues fought amongst themselves fairly frequently, Storm didn't particularly like it, especially when it came down to silent treatments like this. Even when he felt such treatments were more than deserved sometimes, Storm knew they worked best when they worked as a team. Not squabbling with each other. So, unsure what else he could do, he finally broke the silence so to try and spur some conversation.

Unfortunately, this was the best opening comment he could come up with.

And neither Jet nor Wave really needed the reminder, and only became grumpier still as Wave tried to focus her attention on flying the airship and ignoring the others, while Jet stood across the airship's bridge with his back turned on all of them. Unaware of the fact that he was only upsetting them more, Storm anxiously glanced back and forth between them, seeing if his comment would get the two talking. When it was clear that it wasn't, the albatross sought to make another comment.

"Kind of a bummer to go to all that trouble to attend a race that ended up not happening," he remarked in his deep, bass voice. "But then again, who knew that it was going to end up getting rained out like that?"

Again, there were no comments made from either Jet or Wave, but Wave's grip on the steering controls, a large steering wheel that controlled the airship's rudder, tightened significantly as she tried to restrain herself from making any kind of retort to that statement. It wasn't worth it. Nor was it her fault, but Jet thought differently, and that frustrated her to no end. But she knew she probably wouldn't have cared about it nearly as much if it wasn't for that one detail, so it wasn't worth it to make the comment. She held her tongue. Helpfully, Jet did likewise, but she could only imagine that Jet was feeling something similar.

Storm continued speaking. "That rainstorm came out of nowhere, you know! Almost a freak of nature, it was. And when it arrived, it just rained, and rained, and rained…"

Jet made a low growl at this, but it wasn't really meant to be directed at Storm. He, too, was only trying to withhold his temper. Like Wave, he also knew it wouldn't be worth it, and knew his temper was short-fused at the moment only because he needed something to vent his anger upon. And neither Wave and Storm would be good for that, because they would fight back. But he knew that he was only going to succeed at this for so long. And Storm really wasn't helping, despite whatever his intentions were.

"…and rained, and rained, and rained until that poor Apotos village was nearly flooded. I suppose you really can't blame them for cancelling the race at that point. They had bigger concerns to worry about. Like flooded basements."

There was still no comment from either Jet or Wave. Storm glanced between them for a moment, before glancing at Jet, deciding to try making a comment that required a response back. "At least they refunded the money we used to pay the entry fees with, right boss?"

It worked. Jet glanced back at the large albatross, and finally relented and spoke. "Yeah," he responded darkly, before glancing over at Wave, "I suppose we do have _that _much."

Wave tried to ignore Jet's glare, but she was more than consciously aware of it drilling at her back, and before long, she could no longer resist and finally snapped. "Don't you give me that look; I _warned_ you this was going to happen!"

"_Warned _me!" Jet objected, twisting around to face Wave, having finally reached his breaking point as well, "You just told me we were going to get a little rain! Not a second Noah-and-the-ark style flood!"

The fight was on now. Not quite the conversation he wanted, Storm could do nothing now but watch as the other two rogues argue.

"What I _said _was that we could get rained out!" Wave retorted, forgetting the steering wheel and whirling around to face Jet, "When it became obvious that the rain wasn't going to just blow over, we should've left _then_, but _no_, you had to stick around! _You _couldn't face facts, and was too convinced that the race was going to happen anyway to leave, and keep us from wasting _all _of our time, waiting out in a cold rain shower for a race that would _never _happen!"

"I was just acting off the information _you _gave me, which indicated it was just going to be a _little _rain!" Jet objected, not willing to back down now that he was committed to the fight. "That there was still a good chance the race would go ahead! I _trusted _your word, Wave, but it let me down! I think I'm entitled to a little disappointment at your failure to relay correct information!"  
This was a blow that was below the belt for Wave. "It _should've _been just a little rain, all of my scans of that storm suggested as such! I don't _know _how it ended up being so much bigger! The sensors were working and everything! But that's all _beside_ the fact! I'm not the one who needs to take any blame for this! I _told _you to be open to the possibility that it might have been better to forget the race and just leave, but you and your ego wouldn't even consider doing that for a _second_!"

"My _ego_? _MY EGO? _What about _your _ego, you purple-feathered know-it-all! You're too confident of your jibber-jabber sciency-stuff to even consider the possibility that you made a mistake and that it should be _you _who needs to take the blame for all of this!"

"Oh, I am _so _not having this argument with you, Jet! Facts don't lie, and I knew the facts, like _you _clearly didn't, so I fail to see why I should have to…"

The argument probably would've gone on for a lot longer, but it was cut short suddenly when the airship suddenly started to list hard to starboard due its steering controls forgotten and spinning uselessly once a draft of wind caught the craft, pushing it aside. All three of the rouges stumbled to one side as the deck tilted below them, then Wave broke away from her confrontation with Jet to grab the steering wheel and quickly right the ship. Once that was done, she and Jet went back to giving each other dirty looks and the silent treatment.

At least at first. But Wave ultimately decided she wanted to get in the last word.

"Why _were _you so determined to see that race through, anyway?" she asked, glancing back at Jet, who avoided eye contact. "Was it _really_ worth standing out there for hours in a downpour? I know you like races, Jet, but even you have to admit that at the end of the day, it's just a race. And a very insignificant one at that."

Jet knew all of this, and knew Wave was very much correct. But that wasn't the problem. Unfortunately, Jet knew that even trying to explain it to Wave wouldn't help any. So he didn't give Wave any kind of response. Perhaps not caring if she got one, Wave let the matter drop, but it was clear she was unhappy still.

Storm glanced back and forth between them again, wondering what to do now. Usually, Storm would be the first to start a fight, but something apparently bugged him about this particular fight, and he wanted things set straight. "Oh, c'mon guys, let's just forget the whole thing!" he urged, "Wave's right for once…"

"For once?" Wave questioned the accuracy of that statement entirely too predictably. Jet did not regret calling her egotistical, because it was complete truth. That sparrow had quite an ego. Being wrong about anything was simply out of the question to her.

Storm normally would've challenged the statement, starting his argument with Wave, but for once, wisely ignored the comment, and continued speaking undeterred. "…is this one incident _really_ worth fighting over? The only reason we even entered was because we were looking for something to do. So why bother worrying about it? I mean, someday we'll probably look back at all of this and laugh, like that time when…"

"Can it, Storm!" Jet finally snapped, deciding that he didn't have to sit here and listen to this at the moment, nor wanting to. He turned to stomp out of the bridge. "I'm going to sit in my office! Don't bug me unless the world's ending!"

"Fine!" Wave snapped back from the steering controls, "See if I do!"

She didn't even flinch as Jet slammed the hatch to the bridge shut behind him, and instead focused on flying the airship while grumbling various bad names for Jet under her breath. Forgotten again, Storm just stood there, feeling like he should be picking a side of this argument, but was torn over which side to pick. Because Jet was the leader and thereby his boss, Storm was immensely loyal to the hawk and rarely questioned anything he told the albatross. But while he and Wave didn't always see eye-to-eye either, Storm was forced to admit that Wave did know a thing or two about this sort of thing, and usually the sparrow was mostly correct too. Besides, he really _didn't_ see why it was so important to fight over it anyway. Normally, they would've grumbled a little about something like this for a while, but it would quickly be forgotten again, and life moved on like before.

Finally, unable to come to a conclusion, Storm begrudgingly resorted to his last tactic for situations such as this. Hide in the mess hall, eating junk food, and wait for the argument to blow over. Because he figured that no matter what, it was going to have to sooner or later.

* * *

But the fearless leader he looked up to so much wasn't so certain of that.

Jet sat backwards in his desk chair in his office, leaning his beak on the chair's headrest as he stared out the large office windows at the world outside. He watched as the airship lazily wandered into a thick bank of fog, but wasn't concerned about it. With the airship's radar and sensory equipment, he knew it could easily be navigated through any fog like this with little risk of crashing.

Besides, he really didn't want to talk to Wave about anything, and _she _was flying the ship at the moment anyway.

He had calmed down a little, but he was still annoyed at the sparrow for all of this. And he still blamed her for giving him faulty information as the reason why they ended up wasting so much time standing around for an Extreme Gear race that ultimately got rained out…but he had to admit he wasn't really that torn up over missing the race. Remembering what some of their competition looked like, it probably wouldn't have been much of a race anyway. And he also had to admit that both Wave and Storm were right to say it all wasn't worth it, because it really wasn't. All annoyances and fault-finding aside, Jet knew that at the end of the day, life would go on.

But that wasn't what he was upset about.

What he was upset about was the fact that he had been hoping the race would've distracted him from this rather peculiar mood he had been caught in as of late. And as such, he needed something to vent his frustrations on, and as much as he didn't like to admit it, this was the best he could do.

He hated it, too, because the only reason it was even taking place was because of a longing kind of mood he'd been stuck in, where he longed for something he knew he couldn't have. He'd already tried, and only ended up embarrassing himself.

He knew now that he had gotten into this mood off and on for almost the entirety of his life, but it wasn't until recently that he figured out what it was that he longed for, and why. Before then, he had always managed to shrug it off one way or another. He even suspected that part of the reason he even got into Extreme Gear was because of these moods, because up until recently, riding Extreme Gear had been enough to soothe it.  
But now, much to Jet's dismay, not even Extreme Gear seemed enough to dissuade the now constant and unshakeable mood. It only pushed it out of his center of attention momentarily, before it would be back again in full power. All because he had gotten a taste of what he _really _wanted. A taste of a very specific form of flight that, had it been possible, would've been powered by nothing, save Jet's own body. No airships, no Extreme Gear, just Jet and the air.

It was an exhilarating idea to contemplate doing.

Assuming it was possible, of course.

It had all started only a few days previous while they were on their way to Apotos in the first place. They had nearly gotten caught in yet another, different, thunderstorm and the airship had gotten struck by lightning. The bolt had pierced one of the airship's fuel cells of helium, the gaseous substance that kept the airship afloat, so Storm and Jet had to go out and patch the hole before they sank while Wave worked to keep the airship from entering the storm.

While they were out there, Jet had, in a stupid moment of disillusionment due to already being in this particular mood beforehand, thrown himself off the side of the airship in a reckless and thoughtless attempt to achieve self-sustained flight and satisfy the desire once and for all. An act that would've ended with his untimely death had it not been for the safety line and harness he had thankfully been wearing stopping his fall. But his attempt had failed, something he should've known well in advance and used to stop himself with. But he hadn't. And as a result of his actions, both he and Storm had ended up hanging upside-down off the side of the airship until Wave found them and pulled them in.

And to add further embarrassment to the whole event was the fact that even Storm knew it was obvious that Jet had purposely jumped off the side of the craft (instead of slipping and falling like he had lied to them), and that Wave had found the whole event immensely funny. Even now, days later, she would still giggle at the memory of the event, which only made Jet that much more annoyed at her. But above all, Jet was annoyed at himself for letting himself get caught up with something so impossible that he allowed himself to do it in the first place. And as a result, had managed to get a taste of the sensation he had for so long unknowingly longed for. Because of it, the feeling of longing for it was now constant and unshakable.

His mind, apparently not having learned its lesson, wanted him to try again.

But what good would that do him? He already knew the outcome. He'd fail. It was physically impossible for him to achieve self-sustained flight without some other device to aid him. He had been stupid enough to try it once. He was determined to keep himself from trying it again, hence why he so desperately wanted something to distract himself from it.

To say nothing of the fear that he might allow himself to get caught up in the euphoria of it all and suffer another lapse of judgment without warning and try it again without even thinking about it, as he had done the first time. But there was no telling when that could happen, if it'd happen at all, and if it did, there was the distinct possibility that there would be nothing to stop him from getting himself hurt that time. For his own safety, he needed to find some way to combat this feeling and at the very least keep it at bay.

But to his frustration, he hadn't found the solution he needed yet. At times he felt he could barely keep this desire of flight bottled up in him now, much less to do it long term.

He probably needed help. But who could he possibly talk to about it? Wave and Storm wouldn't understand. Wave would just look at it scientifically and state how impossible it was, thus completely missing the point. And Storm was too simple-minded to be able to think deeply enough to understand why it was such a big deal. And there was no way Jet knew of to _get _them to understand without giving them the same chance to experience the same sensations he had, and that was not only dangerous, but wouldn't work unless they were both in the right mindset, and as Jet seriously doubted they had ever longed for something like this before, he knew it would be nearly impossible.

And it left him in a foul mood as a result. Worse, he knew it was beginning to rub off on the other rogues as well. He and Wave had been snippier and at each others throats more often than usual, and Storm had likewise been unusually sullen and quiet, probably not liking how little unity there was in the gang as of late, which just went to show how bad it was getting. This particular fight about the cancelled race in Apotos was just another bullet point on the growing list of evidence. Jet knew he couldn't let this go on, or their whole group would fall apart. Or Jet simply lost it, whichever came first.

He was literally addicted to this impossible idea of his.

And he knew he needed to do something about this unwanted obsession of his.

But he had exhausted all of his own ideas.

And he really didn't know who or what to turn to now.

The best he could do for now was hope that it'd eventually pass and act like nothing was wrong as much as possible until things went back to normal…but with each passing day, Jet feared that day wasn't going to come until he did something to quench this desire. And he only knew of one way to do that at the moment. And that was to give in.

He wasn't ready to do that yet.

_But what if he had no other choice?_

Jet quickly shook the thought from his mind. It wouldn't come to that. There had to be another choice, and he was determined to find it. If he just knew where to begin looking…

By this point in time, the airship had wandered very deep into the bank of fog, and now nothing could really be seen out Jet's office windows but a swirling grey mist. With unfocused eyes, he stared into that mist, so lost in thought as he was that he wasn't really paying attention to what he was seeing. He hardly even acknowledged the sudden and unusual flash of light that burst out from somewhere within the bank of fog, and when none like it appeared afterwards, he just shrugged it off.

He later regretted it when the airship suddenly lurched hard to starboard. Caught off guard by the unexpected maneuver, Jet had to scramble to grab a handhold to keep from falling to the floor. Even as he was doing this, an alarm klaxon that was to be saved only for emergencies went off aboard the airship. And before it had even finished the first burst of sound, the airship started shaking violently as a dull roar from something that could only be the engine of another craft grew. By the time Jet had managed to grab that handhold, a massive, metallic, craft suddenly sped past, dangerously close to his office windows, nearly colliding with the obviously much smaller airship. The other craft was moving so fast, its hull rushing past so quickly, that it was nearly just a blur. But not even Jet could miss the all-too-familiar logo plastered on the other craft's aft section, just before its rocket engines.

Jet muttered an old Babylonian curse under his breath, fully alert now as he rushed out of the office and back towards the airship's bridge. Only one person could have a craft of that size and design with that egotistic logo on it.

Dr. Eggman.


	2. Not A Good Idea

Chapter two, with a lot less talking and more action than the last chapter as we start to set the scene for the story. Also a significantly longer chapter than the last one, but not all of the chapters will be this length. I imagine it'll vary on the chapter. Anyway, again, here's chapter two. :)

2.

Not A Good Idea

Unlike Jet, who only shrugged it off at first, Wave was immediately alert when she saw the unusual flash of light appear somewhere in front of the airship up on the bridge. At first, she was completely baffled by it, and just couldn't explain it, but instinct told her to be ready for anything. So when the shape of a massive craft coming straight towards them finally started to emerge from out within the mist, Wave was ready to act, and quickly jerked the steering controls hard to starboard in a desperate attempt to avoid a collision. She succeeded, but even then it was only just. The craft came close enough that the bridge came alight with various proximity alarms, warning that the airship was _much_ too close to another object.

But nonetheless, Wave managed to avoid the craft, and was about to give herself a brief moment of praise when she realized just what that craft was, and who it belonged to. Realizing that they could very well not be out of the woods yet, Wave spun the airship around to face the craft it had just avoided, watching as the craft quickly braked and reoriented itself to face the airship itself. As it did so, more peculiar flashes of light appeared within the bank of fog all around the airship, and soon more hulking forms of the craft appeared.

By the time an annoyed Jet arrived on the bridge, the airship had been surrounded by five ships from the Eggman Fleet.

"Oh brilliant!" Jet exclaimed immediately upon seeing the situation. "What does that idiot scientist want from _us_?"

"Well, given the fact that we thwarted his evil plans at least three times now, I would think Eggman is getting just a _little _annoyed with us," Wave remarked sarcastically.

"So what?" Jet asked, eying the closest of the five ships, the one that had nearly ran into them, carefully for any hints for what they were all doing here. "Sonic's thwarts his plans several _more _times than that every year _in a row_!"

Wave thought about that for a moment, and quickly saw she couldn't deny that logic. "Well, the doctor must have _some_ explanation for being here."

"Let's hope he's just lost, and needs directions," Jet murmured under his breath, turning away from the window to look at Wave. "Think you can navigate us away from here and out of range of their weapons?"

Wave surveyed the monstrous flying fortresses that surrounded their significantly smaller airship. "Not without drawing their attention to the fact we're trying to escape pretty quickly, and seeing that these things can all outrun us and outgun us, then assuming that they _are _for malicious intents, then…"

"…then Eggman would just shoot us out of the sky," Jet concluded, seeing the point. He slapped a fist against a control panel and cursed again. "Eggman had _better _be here to make us an offer so great it'll make up for all of this, then. Or I _swear_, I will…"

"What's going on?" Storm asked urgently, interrupting Jet's threats as he barged into the bridge suddenly, carrying a granola bar that he was still in the process of eating with him.

"It's Eggman," Wave summarized simply, motioning out the bridge's windows at the sight of the five Eggman ships surrounding them. "Obviously, he's got us surrounded."

Storm was silent for a moment as he worked to process this, biting into his granola bar again as he did so. "Maybe he's here just by chance," he suggested hopefully.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," Jet muttered, scanning the skies for some way to escape safely, but was coming up empty. "Eggman doesn't just show up on your doorstep in a regiment from his Egg Fleet just to say 'hi.' I'll bet you my board he wants something from us."

Wave nodded in agreement. "But what?"

Before the words were even out of her mouth, the control panel before her started beeping. She glanced down at the indicators to find out what was going on before continuing. "We're getting a video transmission, live. Three guesses as to who it is."

"I only need one," Jet replied, marching over to a video screen that sat on one side of the bridge.

The screen switched on as the video transmission was directed towards it. It immediately flashed the Eggman Empire logo as it did so, as if it hadn't already been established who the transmission was coming from. Jet rolled his eyes at the logo then waited for the transmission to finish connecting. Finally, Eggman himself appeared on the screen, appearing as he always did. He was just about to launch into what was probably a pre-prepared speech, but Jet was a step ahead of him.

"What the _heck_ do you think you're doing, Eggman?" Jet exclaimed loudly at the video screen.

Eggman pulled back from his end of the transmission and made a grimace. "And hello to you too, Jet the Hawk," he muttered sarcastically. "To answer the question though, isn't it obvious? I intend to capture the three of you and make you my prisoners, and I daresay I'm off to a great start!"

"Capture us?" Jet repeated, "What the heck _for_? And what makes you _think_ you _really_ have any chance of capturing us anyway?"

"Because I do believe I am the one that has you surrounded with all weapons pointed at your quaint little airship," Eggman remarked coldly. "And as for _why_ I'd want to capture you…let's say I'm a little _peeved_ at the fact that you have messed with my plans one time too many."

"Told you," Wave remarked, rolling her eyes. "Eggman's so predictable."

"I heard that, sparrow!" Eggman snapped.

"If you're looking to vent your frustrations on somebody, why don't you go track down somebody who deserves it, like Sonic?" Jet inquired with a frown.

"Hasn't he been trying to do that for years?" Storm asked innocently from behind Jet.

"Oh yeah, that's right, and he has yet to succeed," Jet remarked with a teasing grin, as if he had forgotten this detail.

Eggman's face twisted itself up in anger when this was pointed out. "I have plans for Sonic. But for the moment, I'm starting with _you_ lucky three. And it was no accident it happened to be you too, because I tracked you down first. I've just been _waiting_ for my chance to spring this little trap, and trapped you I have!"

"Not yet, you haven't," Storm rumbled.

"Is that a challenge?" Eggman asked threateningly, "Because I'm more than willing to accept!" he looked off-screen and bellowed out an order to a robot.

"Storm, get to the weapons, and them ready to fire!" Jet ordered the albatross quickly, suspecting what Eggman was up to already.

Storm nodded, and hurried over the appropriate console located towards the back of the bridge, but wasn't fast enough when Wave caught sight of one of the surrounding crafts firing at their airship.

"Jet!" she exclaimed in warning.

Jet hurried over to look, seeing the bright yellow shot surging towards them. "Everybody hold onto something!" he quickly exclaimed.

The shot plowed into the airship's envelope with a mighty bang, including a pop as it burst one of the fuel cells within. The airship shuddered violently from the impact then promptly started to sink downward, its nose dropping into an unwanted and uncontrolled dive. Alarms started to flash, indicating a rapid loss of helium from within the airship's envelope. The occupants of the airship all quickly grabbed for handholds as they all nearly lost their footing in the unprovoked attack.

"We're losing altitude fast!" Wave announced unnecessarily as she eyed the relevant gauges.

"Obviously!" Jet exclaimed back, as he could easily have deduced this much just by looking out the window. "Level us off!"

"I can't!"

"Oh look!" Eggman exclaimed on the video screen, feigning surprise at this sudden turn of events, "Unless somebody does something fast, it would _appear _that you're all about to _die_! Oh, if only there was somebody who could help you! But wait! I'm in an excellent position to help you, aren't I?" He laughed. "Agree to surrender yourselves, and maybe that's what I'll do!"

"Are you _blackmailing _us?" Jet demanded, turning his attention back to the fat man on the screen. "_Seriously_, Eggman?"

"Let's not argue over trivialities, what's your answer, hawk?" Eggman barked impatiently. "Will you surrender?"

"No! It's going to take a whole lot more than _this_ to get us to even _think _about that!"

Eggman grinned cruelly. "That can be arranged."

Now robots could be seen being launched from the surrounding five warships, rocketing towards the sinking airship via rocketpacks, all of them armed to the teeth. The Babylon Rogues all paused in what they were doing to watch the swarm of robots close in on them with dread.

"Now look what you've done, Jet!" Wave snapped.

"What _I _did?" Jet argued back, "How the heck is any of this _my _fault?" Without waiting for an answer he probably didn't want to hear anyway, he turned to Storm. "Storm, weapons, now!"

The large albatross nodded immediately, dropped the unfinished granola bar he still held to the floor, and hurried over to a console of controls positioned to the one side of the bridge and started pressing buttons. On the outside of the damaged airship, six pivoting cannons positioned strategically around it all activated, and acting on remote, automatically started firing at the approaching robots, just in time for said robots to start firing back.

Soon the area around the rapidly sinking airship became alive with heavy combat, the robots buzzing around it like flies as they were occasionally shot down in fiery bursts of light as the airship's cannons hit their targets. Jet saw that the cannons were keeping the attacking drones at bay for now, but he knew that it wasn't going to last forever, and the cannons only had so much ammo anyway. He had been hoping that, seeing they were dropping so quickly, they just needed to keep the robots off their back long enough for them to drop below the encirclement Eggman's ships had them in, giving them a chance to escape. But Eggman clearly thought of that, and it quickly became clear that the ships were dropping along with the airship, keeping it encircled.

Jet racked his mind for other options, but he just wasn't coming up with any.

Escape didn't seem to be an option.

"I can't level us off, we're losing helium too quickly!" Wave exclaimed suddenly as she struggled with the controls.

And while Storm didn't say anything, Jet figured the albatross was struggling with his task as well, as sounds of his frustration was growing louder and louder as the cacophony all around the airship grew louder too. The robots were also steadily getting closer and closer to the airship too, occasionally slipping pasts the protective cannons keeping them back to get close enough to cause alarm before they would finally get shot down. Eventually, they would reach the airship itself, and while Jet could only guess what the robots would be ordered to do when that happened, he figured it couldn't be anything good.

He had to duck suddenly as one such robot managed to slip through the airship's defenses long enough to fire a few shots at the bridge, and three bullets punched their way through the forward window, leaving small little holes in the glass as the deadly bullets then sped into the bridge itself and ricocheted off walls and consoles, thankfully missing anything living, but was still an excellent reminder that the danger was still there.

Meanwhile, Eggman, his face still on the video screen, watched the rogues face these challenges with amusement, and laughed as they vainly fought. "You might as well give up, you know," he taunted finally, unable to hold back any longer, "All this valiant but vain resistance stuff really isn't worth it. According to my readings you're already at fourteen thousand feet and dropping faster still. At this rate, you'll be hitting ground in ten, fifteen, minutes at the _latest_ and then you're all dead. You might as well just give up."

Jet ignored the mad doctor and continued scanning the skies for a means of escape. His eyes eventually fell upon the closest of the five battleships Eggman commanded, the same one that had nearly ran into them when it arrived. Even after everything else that had happened, the craft was still fairly close to them, and a little under them, even. It was consistently staying there, too. But even as Jet thought of all of this, he knew that while it was an interesting observation, what good would it do them?

"I meant what I said when I told you I would keep you three from falling to your deaths if you'd just surrender to me," Eggman continued ranting, "Just give the word, and this terrible little, not to mention completely unneeded, battle can end and you're safe. Heck, you wouldn't have to do that much. Just stop shooting and start flying towards one of my lovely ships here, and I'll do the rest."

Jet considered this for a moment. He didn't like this option, because he was pretty confident that they weren't going to be any better off surrendering to Eggman than continuing to resist him like this, but he didn't have many other options to consider. Furthermore, he didn't want _anyone _coming to harm, and if he could manage it, would love it if they could all escape this unscathed. But how? Eggman proposed a ceasefire if they surrendered…maybe Jet could use that to his advantage. The ceasefire might give them just enough time to enact some kind of plan that could let them escape. But even if they _did_ do that, what could they do?

Then Jet's eyes fell on the closest of Eggman's warships, and he got a wild, dangerous, and probably stupid idea that was crazy enough it just might work.

"Wave," he said, quickly hurrying over to the sparrow's side as she continued to try and keep the airship afloat for as long as she could, "What do you think powers those things, or what kind of propulsion they have?"

He pointed at the five flying fortresses that surrounded them, following the airship and launching more and more robots in their direction, but was otherwise staying out of the way. Wave, unsure where Jet was going with this, squinted at the ships for a few moments.

"I'm not sure, but it'd have to be something really powerful to power something of that size," she responded finally. "As for propulsion, generic propulsion obviously boils down to some kind of rocket technology. For long distance, though, I've heard that Eggman has recently come up with some kind of hyperdrive mechanism to propel these ships rapidly across long distances. If this is true, then I'm betting that's what Eggman used to sneak all five of these ships up on us without warning like he did. It would at least explain where those flashes of light came from."

"Where on those things would such technology be located?" Jet inquired, needing to know this much before he could even be sure his plan would work.

Wave frowned, still not seeing where jet was going with this line of thought, but she obediently hazarded a guess. "Probably somewhere towards the back of the ship, why?"

"Remember that you three don't have all the time in the world, you know," Eggman continued jabbering, still trying to talk them into surrendering, "You can't keep fighting forever, nor can you keep trying to stay away. I, however, can, as _I'm _the one with the almost bottomless arsenal of weaponry that I am not afraid to make use of. And I've been holding back, to be perfectly honest. Continue to resist me like this, and maybe I'll just have to pull out some of those bigger guns and blow your pathetic little…"

Tired of hearing Eggman's voice drabble on, and not wanting Eggman to overhear anything he was about to tell the others, Jet silenced the doctor by smashing the video screen with his fist, cutting the transmission short. In doing so, he knew he was ruining the video screen, but he also knew that if his wild and insane plan worked, it wouldn't matter in the end.

He turned back to Wave. "Would a big enough blow to that hyperdrive thingy be enough to cause some kind of destructive overload?" he asked.

"Of course," Wave responded immediately, "But we don't have any kind of weaponry powerful enough to deliver a blow like that."

"We won't need it," Jet assured her, "I think I've got an idea to get us out of this mess. Not one of my best, but if it works, it could save all of our tail feathers." He pointed at the closest of the five airships. "Think you can fly us to that ship?"

Wave sighed, and shrugged, clearly skeptical but not having any better ideas herself. "I can try," she said, and started turning the sinking and damaged airship in that direction.

"Storm, you keep shooting!" Jet ordered the albatross. "Try and keep those robots off our back for as long as possible!"

"Got it, boss!" Storm responded, and continued firing the airship's cannons at robots.

The next several moments were tense. This part was the most important part of Jet's crazy idea, and if they couldn't even reach Eggman's ship, then there was no hope for the plan. But it seemed there were going to make it, as Wave was successfully managing to maneuver the airship over the larger ship below it. Storm was also keeping the robots at bay, helped by the fact that the onslaught of robots backed off for a few moments as Eggman, no doubt aware of what they were doing, wondered if they intended to surrender. So he held off attacking until he was sure, as Jet hoped he would, buying them time.

But eventually, as Storm, obeying Jet's order to the letter, kept shooting at the robots as they came into range, it probably became clear to Eggman that they had other ideas in mind than surrendering, and the onslaught continued in full force again. Eventually, as the airship got close enough to the closest of Eggman's ship that it could successfully land on it, Eggman finally resorted to the cannons on his ships, and fired off first a warning shot at the airship, the first shot any of the larger ships had fired since the first one that started the airship sinking in the first place, then finally a second one that hit the airship head on in its backend. With a bone jarring lurch, the airship's rate of descent increased sharply.

"That did it!" Wave exclaimed as she gripped the airship's steering mechanism tightly with both hands, leaning back as the deck beneath her leaned downward, "I think that shot took out one of the engines! I can't keep us afloat any longer, we're going to crash!"

Jet mentally plotted out the airship's course in his head, and saw that they would crash on top of Eggman's flying fortress below them. "Good, that's exactly where I want to end up!"

"_What_?" Wave exclaimed, shocked by Jet's almost idle and uncaring comment, "You _wanted _us to be shot down? _That's_ your plan?"

"I didn't say it was a _good_ plan!" Jet snapped back in his defense. "Just try and keep us level! And Storm, keeping shooting until I tell you to stop!"

He then watched as the airship dropped rapidly towards Eggman's ship, which seemed to be swelling in size as they drew ever closer to it. Jet was quite aware of the large cannons that were perched on the ship's hull that they were dangerously close to, but they hadn't fired again, so Jet hoped that they were already too close to the ship for the cannons to get a clear shot. Meanwhile, the swarms of robots attacking them were struggling to keep up with their airship, now that it was falling so fast.

Occasionally some of them would try and get in front of the airship as if they expected that would be enough to stop the falling craft, only to get beat aside as the airship plowed past them. One robot got a clear shot at the bridge in doing this, firing more bullets into the bridge, (thankfully missing everybody within again) before the bottom part of the bridge slammed into the robot with a bone-jarring jolt. When another robot was shot right out of the sky dangerously near the airship, sending debris spiraling dangerously at the ship, Jet decided that was enough.

"Okay, I'll take over from here!" he told Wave, grabbing the steering wheel from her and taking control of the steering, "You and Storm go grab your Extreme Gear and get ready!"

Wave nodded, and hurried out of the bridge. Storm waiting long enough to fire a few more robots out of the way before hurrying off himself, leaving Jet momentarily alone on the bridge. The airship was now only a matter of moments away from crash-landing on Eggman's ship. Jet worked to keep the airship as level with the metallic hull below as much as he could, aiming the airship to land as close to the back end of the ship as he could, where Wave had indicated the supposed hyperdrive would likely be. Wave and Storm returned with their respective boards just seconds before the airship would impact with the larger ship's hull.

"Brace yourselves!" Jet exclaimed as he heard them run into the bridge again, grabbing the steering wheel in front of him tightly as he brought the airship's nose up as high as he could in a sudden stall.

The hull of Eggman's ship suddenly vanished from view as the airship tilted upward, but it didn't last as the airship's backend slammed into the hull itself with a grinding slam that jolted the whole airship again. Throwing it out of the stall again, the nose came rushing down again and slammed into the hull to join the backend of the ship. The impact was hard, and threw Storm and Wave to the floor, and Jet hard into the steering wheel before him. The forward windows shattered in a brilliant spray of glass, spilling the shards of crystal everywhere.

Now solidly on the hull, the airship's momentum sent it skidding across the metallic surface with a loud grinding sound. Ahead of the blimp, the hull of the ship rose up suddenly to form a towering structure that was probably part of the control center for the craft. Unable to slow the craft, Jet could only watch as the airship slid uncontrollably into it, slamming into it hard. The dying airship's structure groaned loudly in protest as the rest of contained momentum it bore was channeled elsewhere, before all was eerily quiet as the airship settled. It leaned heavily to one side as its envelope continued to deflate and the supportive frame within began to buckle due to the weight it suddenly had to bear.

Jet pulled himself straight, wincing as his chest protested after being slammed into the steering wheel as it did, but was otherwise unhurt. He glanced back at the others. "Everybody okay?" he called quickly.

Storm and Wave picked themselves gingerly off the floor. Storm was first up, and moved to help pull up Wave as well, but she threw his helping arm off and continued getting up on her own.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Wave said.

"Me too, boss," Storm added.

"Although that landing could've been better," Wave added a little darkly.

Jet ignored the jibe, knowing that now wasn't the time for an argument, especially as they started hearing bullets start to slam into the outside of the airship as the robots caught up with them and resumed their previous mission. Jet moved to the weapons console and started firing the airship's remaining cannons at the robots, trying to keep them back.

"Both of you, get the rear hatch, and fly your gear as far from here as you can!" he ordered as he worked at the console. "I'll use the airship's cannons to lay down cover fire, to give you guys time to get away!"

Both Storm and Wave hesitated a moment, realizing that this meant Jet would have to stay behind at least long enough to carry out this plan, and by then it might be too late. Ultimately, though, Storm, being as loyal as he was to Jet, and assuming Jet had a plan of some sort, nodded, before turning and leaving. Wave, however, wasn't so easily dissuaded, and hung back.

"Jet…" she began.

"Wave, go, _now_, while you've got the chance! I'll be right behind you, I promise!"

This still didn't seem to reassure Wave, but she also saw Jet wasn't getting talked out of it, so she relented, but not before she said one last thing.

"Good luck," she said.

Jet glanced back at her. "You too. Now go!"

Wave nodded, and turned and left. Jet turned back to weapons console and continued laying down weapons fire, trying to keep the attacking robots back and away from the airship as much as he could. While he did so, he kept one eye on a small screen that watched Storm and Wave through a small camera on the outside of the airship as they opened the back hatch in the airship, jumped on their boards, and flew off, dodging robots and their firing and out into the open air.

Jet watched them as they flew off, waiting until they reached a certain distance before he planned to quickly follow them and enact the last stage of his plan. But it quickly became clear that he wasn't going to have that option, as the airship's cannons were already running low on ammo and a couple had already run out completely and were now useless. Now that the airship was a sitting target, the robots didn't bother much about trying to swarm it, and instead just massed around it and fired upon it, dealing it further damage. Systems were failing all over the dying craft, and a total system failure was imminent. The moment that happened, the robots would be free to raid the airship, and if Jet wasn't out of here by then…

Still he waited, trying to give Storm and Wave as much time as he could to get as far away as they could. But finally, when he was down to only three cannons still functional, robots beginning to approach the airship from all sides, and sparks starting to fly and circuits fried, Jet saw he couldn't wait any longer and gave up, leaving the bridge and hurrying into the depths of the airship.

Dodging a stream of water that trickled down from a burst pipe and hearing loud thuds as robots started trying to break into the airship, Jet burst into his office and quickly surveyed the room. It had been left in a mess due to all the turmoil, but while Jet hated seeing it like this, he knew there was nothing he could do about it now. Quickly, he retrieved his Type-J Extreme Gear board from where it had fallen out it's stand, double checked it to make sure it was undamaged, then started prepping it for flight as quickly as he could.

Bullets were heard firing somewhere outside the airship, and the projectiles smashed through the windows of the office, leaving a variety of holes in the glass. Jet ducked low and held his breath, waiting a party of robots to come bursting through the weakened glass, but none came. So he quickly went back to prepping the board. Once that was done, he went to his desk and opened a specific drawer he had hoped he would never have to open and removed a small remote control device from within it.

Gripping the device tightly in one hand, he then turned and surveyed the rest of the ruined office, consciously aware of the fact that this would be the last time he got to see it. He took in every last detail of the office as he could to keep as a memory of better times, from the walls, to the desk, to the picture of Jet's father that had fallen from its hook and now lay on the floor. Jet wished he could take more with him, but told himself that it wouldn't be worth as it would only slow him down, and took only his board and the remote control.

He turned to the bullet hole-riddled window, grabbed his board from one end and swung it at the window like a club a couple times until the weakened glass shattered, clearing the way for him. He then jumped onto the board, started it up, and flew out the broken window and out into the open air outside. A couple of the robots approaching the airship turned to shoot at him, but were unable to act quickly enough as Jet sped away from the, the wrecked airship, and the Eggman warship it was perched upon at full throttle.

Immediately, Jet was nearly overcome by the welcoming sensation of speed, of the air rushing through his feathers as the board carried him away from it all. But all at once, a thought came crashing down on upon him of something he had been thinking about just before it all started, about a certain temptation he had been struggling to shake about a new style of flying he inwardly wished he could adopt. In all the chaos, he had almost forgotten about it, but now that he was on his Extreme Gear and in the air, the feeling returned in full force and was hard to shake. But Jet knew now was most definitely time for this, forced the thought to the back of his head as well as he could, then twisted around to look back at the warship he was fleeing from.

The crippled airship perched upon it was immediately visible, the damage it had dealt looking even worse from here, as it looked crumpled and dirtied, with more than one stream of smoke rising up from it as fires burned aboard. Robots milled around it, but catching on to the fact that nobody was aboard anymore, the machines were now already starting to turn and take off after their prey, with Jet probably being their biggest target as he was the closest. The hawk gauged the distances between himself and the ship. He was already a fair way away from it, but not far enough in his mind, so he focused on flying further away.

Ahead of him, he could just barely make out a pair of little black dots that were also flying away from the scene that had to have been Storm and Wave, and Jet realized they weren't out of danger yet either, but at least they would be farther away from the site of the action than he would be in a few moments. That couldn't be helped, and he knew it. He just hoped they appreciated what he was about to do. Again looking back at the warship he was fleeing from, and wondered what the minimum safe distance for what he was about to do would be. Probably not here.

But the robots were starting to gain on him, and were firing warning shots in his direction. Worse still, Eggman had apparently decided he had enough games, and now the warship was firing its cannons at Jet, and they _weren't _warning shots. Thankfully, since Jet was such a small target, he was proving to be hard to hit, but within a moment, several deadly shots of weapon fire had glazed past him a lot closer than he hoped. He knew that if he didn't do it now, he probably wouldn't ever get the chance to. So, taking the remote control in his hand, he squeezed his eyes shut as he braced himself, and flicked the remote's only switch.

The airship suddenly exploded in a massive ball of flame as it self-destructed, an explosion massive enough that it blew away all the robots gathered around it, massive enough that it blew a large hole in the hull of Eggman's warship, the explosion bursting out windows in the decks immediately below. The percussive shockwave rippled through the air and blew everyone and everything in it slightly off course, Jet included. Stunned and no doubt severely damaged by the blast, the warship veered off course itself, starting to list to one side as it seemed to go adrift. Leery of facing a similar fate and unsure as of yet what caused the blast, the other four warships hung back, waiting to see what would happen next. Jet did likewise, hoping and praying that he didn't just blow up the airship in vain, that the blast had been big enough to overload the hyperdrive he was hoping the warship to have, as was his plan.

But as the moments ticked by, it seemed that was not the case, for the ship merely sat there, too stunned and damaged for the moment to do anything, a smoldering crater left in its upper decks that poured thick smoke, but nothing else happened. And Jet couldn't stick around to watch any longer, because the robots were getting their act together and were coming after him again. Plus, the other four warships were overcoming their fears and were starting to change course to come towards both the damaged warship…and Jet. The hawk predicted that after that little stunt, as unsuccessful as it was, Eggman want for revenge probably just doubled. So, withholding his disappointment, and wondering how they were going to get out of this _now_, Jet turned his air board and started flying away from the foes, trying to put as much distance between him and them, chasing after Storm and Wave somewhere ahead of him.

Jet knew he couldn't get far, nor could his fellow rogues, not on Extreme Gear. As impressive as they were, they weren't designed for this kind of use. Their range was actually very limited, and could only go so far before their supplies of compressed air that fueled them ran out, requiring the user to stop and let the board refuel, not to mention that they needed their power supplies recharged routinely, and Jet wasn't sure if any of their boards had been fully recharged to begin with.

He was just beginning to run the numbers through his head, wondering how far they could possibly get before they were forced to stop and land (and then be completely vulnerable to attack from Eggman), when he heard another explosion somewhere behind him. Surprised, he turned around in time to see a series of smaller explosions begin to rip through the damaged warship. Jet's hopes skyrocketed again. Looks like he caused an overload with _something_. Hyperdrive or not, hopefully the overload would cause enough of a distraction to let him and the other rogues escape.

But as it turned out, it _was_ the hyperdrive that was overloading. The explosions continued for a moment, and then a brilliant blast of blue-white energy burst out from within the warship, cutting it in two. That energy then reformed into a chaotic vortex of swirling, sparkling, destructive energy that rapidly started pulling everything around it into it. The pull was far reaching, and within a few moments, Jet could feel it pulling at his board, starting to drag him backwards towards the vortex. Quickly, he pushed his board to its limit, above the recommended top speeds and on into thrust speeds even he hadn't dared to attempt before now, knowing that doing so risked ruining the board. But even that didn't seem to be enough, as it only slowed the board's gradually sliding backwards.

But at least he was the one having the better luck. Eggman's robots that had been pursuing him (and were now nearly upon him) attempted the same trick Jet did, but ended up either burning themselves out quickly, or just not having enough power and got sucked back towards the vortex. Furthermore, the vortex's pull caught two of the other warships that had been nearby and started pulling them in as well. One was far enough away that it was able to more or less keep itself from getting pulled in, but the tug of the vortex started to tear the ship apart, pulling panels, parts, and who knew what else off the ship and into the vortex. The other ship, was a lot less lucky, and was promptly pulled in, crashing into the remains of now destroyed warship that created the vortex and exploded in a much less spectacular way than its sister ship. Any remains were then promptly sucked into the vortex, getting sent who knew where as well, but Jet figured nothing would likely survive the trip.

He struggled to keep his board moving away from the vortex, leaning as far forward as he could, even though it didn't help in the slightest, but to no avail. His Extreme gear couldn't go any faster, and this just wasn't fast enough. Either that or it just couldn't generate enough forward thrust to fight the vortex's pull. Gradually, the board continued to slide backwards towards the vortex. Jet found himself praying once again for another miracle.

He got it. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to fight the vortex's pull much longer, his board about ready to give out from under him due to the strain, the vortex started to cave in on itself, and just as suddenly as it had formed, quickly began to shrink, taking its powerful pull with it. Without warning, its pull on Jet's board vanished, allowing it to suddenly spring forward with a burst of forward momentum.

Jet was at first too shocked to really react, but then let out his breath in a huge sigh of relief, promptly followed by a loud cheer of victory.

He did it just in time for the collapsing vortex to give off one final burst of energy in a shockwave that quickly and unavoidably washed towards Jet, giving the hawk just enough time to watch it surge towards him before it struck him in full force like a ton of bricks.


	3. Falling

Chapter three now. I like how this chapter turned out, and has exactly the feel I was shooting for with it. My only worry is that the events that occur at the tale end of the chapter might be so abrupt that a reader might miss the full significance of what happens at first. I dunno. maybe you readers could tell me. Anyway, enjoy! :)

3.

Falling

The blast must have knocked Jet out for a brief moment, because the next thing he remembered with any amount of accuracy was opening his eyes suddenly and realizing with a jolt that he was falling. The blast must have knocked him off his board. Quickly, he twisted around in the air surging past him as he fell, trying to locate the missing board, knowing that it would have automatically shut off without anyone on it, and would be falling with him. As such, he quickly found it, falling towards the ground with him a few feet to his right, and a little bit behind him.

Jet threw his arms and legs out into a spread-eagle position to try and slow his fall as much as possible, allowing the board to fall ahead of him, before he attempted to try and navigate himself towards the board. It wasn't easy, as all the rushing air buffeting him around severely hindered his process, but it wasn't like he had a better option. Either way, time was short. Due to the bank of fog that still surrounded Jet, he couldn't see ground just yet, but he knew it couldn't be fair below him.

Flailing his arms about as best as he could, he tried to grab the board, but it persistently remained just out of his reach, his gloved fingers only managing to swipe and scrape along the board's edges, not enough to tightly seize it, much less to get on it and fly it again. But then Jet realized it was fruitless anyway, as one of his swipes at the board sent it spinning around so that it's backend faced Jet, allowing the alarmed hawk to see that it's thruster was black and charred. The board had burned out. It wasn't going to be flying anytime soon.

Getting increasingly panicked, Jet hurriedly searched for another means to stop his fall. Anything that would save his life. But there was nothing but the fine, wet mist of the fog and his dead board. Nothing at all Jet could do, but keep falling, an event that would result in his death either way. It wouldn't even matter if he was over a sea at this point. His fall had already been too long from too high up. The impact of hitting something even as soft and flexible as water would be lethal.

Jet realized he was as good as dead.

The thought came to him so suddenly, that its full impact took several precious milliseconds to sink in fully. Once it had, his first thought was to embrace the feeling of fright welling up within his chest and panic, but then knew it didn't really matter _what _he did now. Death was death. Any action he did now would ultimately end exactly the same way. So he decided to go out peacefully, fought down the feeling of panic and forced himself to relax, again throwing out his arms and legs, but this time he just let himself fall uncontrollably.

As the fog finally started to fade, and the forested ground below him came into view, rushing up to greet him, sealing his fate, Jet allowed himself one final wish, hoping that Storm and Wave had managed to escape safely, and that they would be able to continue their Babylonian ways without him. That done and just moments away from impacting the ground, he inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting that final, conclusive, impact with the ground.

* * *

Only it never came.

At first Jet only shrugged it off as himself under estimating the time he had left to live, and instead forced himself to try and not think about it, keeping his eyes squeezed shut. But eventually, even he had to realize that he should've hit ground by now.

Around the same time he realized this, he also realized he didn't really feel like he was falling anymore. Instead, he felt floaty and weightless, like nothing was pulling him down anymore, nor could keep him down. With this in mind, Jet's next thought was that he had somehow missed the impact and was already dead. Unsure what to make of that thought exactly, as this wasn't really what he expected death to feel like, Jet instead just let himself embrace this sensation of weightlessness and relaxed, allowing his mind to go blank and into a meditative state.

After only a short while of doing this, however, Jet became aware of the fact that he could still his body, completely intact, something he had just taken for granted up until now, but then realized that if he was truly dead, he shouldn't really feel like that. Then he realized other things that seemed off, such as the fresh smell of a forest, the feeling of a light breeze rippling against his feathers and the sprinkling of a light, cool mist, in addition to the light sound of the air moving around him. It was then that Jet realized this all seemed to similar to the environment he had been in as he fell and it occurred to him that he might actually _not _be dead after all.

But then, how could that be?

So, against his better instincts, he opened his eyes to look around and find out.

He was right, he wasn't dead yet. But he wasn't exactly sure how this was so.

Sliding by directly below him, close enough that their tops were almost within his reach, was the same forest he had been falling towards only moments earlier. All around him was the same cloud of misty fog that covered the area. He was still very much in this world and not the next. But by all accounts then, he should still be falling, because nothing was touching him but the air and mist. Nothing at all was holding him up, keeping him from falling the rest of the way to the ground and getting killed.

And yet here he was.

And even more mind-boggling was the fact that he seemed to be flying.

A part of him was yelling and cheering in joy about this fact, that he finally managed to do exactly what he had, ironically enough, been longing to do for the past several days. Yet the larger, more skeptical part of him was wondering how the heck he was doing it. He had no Extreme Gear, no airship, none of the other usual tools for flight, and nobody was holding onto him, keeping him up. He had nothing except himself. Even his board was gone from sight, presumably having fallen the rest of the way to the earth below, unlike himself.

But he was flying. A feat that was, by all accounts, completely impossible.

And yet here he was.

Astounded, Jet had just enough time to think to himself just how very much against reality this all was before, like a switch being thrown, like this realization reminding physics to suddenly work again, the flight suddenly ended, and gravity took over, pulling Jet down into the forest below him once again.

* * *

The drop must have knocked him out again, because the next thing Jet remembered was lying on the ground, aching all over, and for somebody slapping him roughly.

"Augh!" Jet finally exclaimed as he slid back into consciousness and tried to push the offending hand, "Stop it! Who's doing that?"

As his vision swam back into clarity, he realized it was Storm, who continued to slap the hawk's face despite it being clear that he was conscious again.

"Storm!" Jet snapped, slapping back at the albatross's hand as it continued to slap him, "What are you _doing_?"

"Sorry boss, but Wave told me to do it," Storm remarked apologetically, and continued to slap Jet.

Jet grabbed the offending hand and shoved it away. "Well, I'm telling you to _stop_! NOW!"

Storm nodded, and quickly backed away. "Okay boss," he said.

Jet moaned, and then weakly dropped his head back down on the ground with a plop. "And here I thought I'd be happy to see you."

"Well, I would've let you be, if it wasn't for the fact that moaning you were making every time you stirred was starting to get on my nerves," he heard Wave speaking somewhere close by. "Welcome back to the land of the living, by the way."

Jet lifted his head back up, and saw Wave sitting down at his feet, wrapping one leg with a cloth bandage. She looked thoroughly annoyed.

Jet rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Well, at least I know you're both alright," he mumbled.

"Barely," Wave grumbled as she continued to work with the bandages. She was silent, then added darkly, "That was a stupid thing you did."

"It _worked_, didn't it?" Jet argued.

"Yeah, but for what _price_?" Wave argued back.

"So I blew up the airship. It was pretty much unsalvageable by that point anyway, and it's not like I'm entirely happy…"

"I'm not talking about the airship, I'm talking about _you_."

Jet was caught a little off guard by this. "Who around here cares about _me_?" he asked ludicrously.

"Obviously not _you_." Wave went back her bandaging of Jet's leg. "You're lucky to even be alive."

Jet leaned his head back and stared upwards at the sky for a few moments, pondering back to that admittedly unexpected outcome. "Yeah, lucky me." He realized suddenly that night had fallen while he had been out, and the sky was now dark, bringing him back to more important details. "How long was I out?"

"We dunno boss, we only found you a few moments ago," Storm answered innocently.

"Since I'm presuming you've been lying here since you blew up Eggman's battleship, probably several hours," Wave estimated, tying off the bandage and standing up. "I don't know exactly, we've been too busy to really keep track of the time."

"Understandable," Jet remarked as he went about testing his joints, and seeing what was hurt and injured on his personage and what was not. For the most part, he just seemed scratched and bruised and miraculously nothing worse than that.

He still ached all over, though.

He then spied what appeared to be searchlights shining around in the sky a few miles from where they were at and instantly guessed what that implied. "Eggman's still around?"

"Yeah, he wasn't ready to give up on us just yet, apparently," Wave remarked coldly, following Jet's gaze. "I'm guessing those five ships he surrounded us with he was remotely controlling from somewhere else and wasn't _actually_ aboard one of them, which was probably a smart choice on his part in the end, because your little stunt destroyed three of the ships and apparently burned out the other two, because they've been adrift ever since."

"The hyperdrive overload released some kind of burst of energy in its final death throes," Jet explained, remembering the wave of light that had knocked him from his board in the first place.

"Probably a massive burst of electromagnetic energy that overloaded the ship's circuitry," Wave deduced instantly.

"We didn't see it, though," Storm piped up suddenly. "We were far enough away by that point that all we saw was a big bright light."

"A good thing too, otherwise our boards probably would've been fried out from under our feet," Wave remarked. "We would've kept right on going away from it, too, if it wasn't for the fact that we realized that you _weren't_ right behind us like you said you would, and we doubled back to search for you."

"Not long after that, two more of Eggman's ships showed up and looked around to see what happened," Storm added.

"One of the ships seems to be spending it's time trying to salvage the remaining two ships that are still dead in the water," Wave concluded, "The other released a fleet of robots that have been combing the forest ever since. Eggman clearly knows that we couldn't have gotten far."

Jet forced himself to sit up at this, wincing as his sore body protested the action. "Then we'd better get going before we're discovered," he said as he attempted to stand up on his weak legs, "That madman is probably doubly mad now that we blew up part of his fleet."

Wave stopped him however. "Easy, Jet, you need to keep still. You could have any number of broken bones that we don't know about or…"

"I'm fine!" Jet barked, throwing her off of him, and forcing himself up onto his feet finally with a grunt, "Just a little banged up is all, nothing I can't handle!" he wobbled on his feet for a moment, then started to fall over again. Storm quickly caught him with one hand. Jet reluctantly grabbed at the albatross's arm to keep himself steady as he waited for his head to stop spinning. "…but maybe I can use Storm as a crutch here for a little bit."

"Better him than me," Wave muttered under her breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear anyway as she turned to gather up what little they had.

"I'm serious, though, we need to get moving before Eggman finds us," Jet persisted, starting to walk forward while leaning heavily on Storm.

"I heard you the first time," Wave grumbled as she collected her and Storm's boards, as well as a familiar third board that Jet immediately recognized. "By the way, we found your board just a little bit before we found you." The sparrow shoved the board into Jet's free arm to carry. "But as you can no doubt _tell_, it's not in the best of shape."

Jet could tell that the board hadn't faired the fall as well as Jet. It was heavily banged up and damaged, on top of being burned out from the vortex earlier. It was going to need some heavy repairs before it could fly again.

"What I don't get, though," Wave continued talking as she walked ahead of Storm and Jet to lead the way, "Is how you managed to get so far away from it."

Jet hesitated, remembering back to the near-deadly fall of his. "I, uh, got separated from my board when I fell," he replied, knowing that much was true.

"How did you survive a fall like that anyway, boss?" Storm asked, curious.

Again, Jet hesitated to respond, thinking back to his memories of his unexpected flight from earlier. Already, the wild memories seemed more faint and distant than before, and Jet wasn't so sure if he had just dreamt the whole thing up instead of actually experiencing it. "I guess some tree broke my fall," he muttered in response instead.

Storm bought this explanation instantly, as it made complete sense in his mind, but Jet saw Wave wasn't so quick to buy such a weak story, and couldn't blame her, as they both knew that if this was true, and the only thing that interrupted his fall _was_ only a tree, then Jet still shouldn't have been so relatively unscathed. But Jet wasn't comfortable about revealing the true story as he remembered it, partly because he wasn't sure just how _true _it was anymore, and knew what Wave would think about it either way, and he didn't want to deal with that right now.

"So I take it we're walking to safety," Jet surmised, changing the subject.

"Well, we can't fly away on our boards either," Storm explained.

"The batteries are dead on both of our boards," Wave explained without turning around to face them. "They weren't fully charged when we abandoned ship like we did."

Jet sighed, "Just as I was afraid it would be," he mumbled. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"So seeing we can't fly away, where are we going to go?" Storm asked. "And how will we escape Eggman?"

"Our best option is to head back into Apotos as fast as we can on foot," Wave explained. "Hopefully we'll find a village or at least some kind of shelter before Eggman finds us."

"Hey!" Jet protested, fighting back a wince as he limped along beside Storm, "_I'm _in charge here!"

"Oh, I'm _sorry_, great and fearless leader!" Wave remarked sarcastically, spinning around to face Jet, "Forgive my insolence! What's _your_ plan?"

Jet avoided eye contact with her. "The exact same thing," he admitted softly, "_but_ that's beside the point!"

"Of course it is," Wave muttered, rolling her eyes, and turned back around and kept walking. "Just try and keep up, fearless leader."

Storm withheld a chuckle. Grumbling, Jet hurried after her as best as he could with his injuries and a bumbling albatross as his crutch.

* * *

But after a little while of walking and exercising his stiff legs, Jet slowly started to move faster, shaking off the worse of the injuries he suffered in his fall, and started leaning on Storm less and less. Slowly but surely, he was starting to bounce back, although he still had plenty of sore parts to favor. In the meantime, they seemed to be covering a lot of ground pretty well, despite having to wander through an unfamiliar forest at night. And better still, Eggman's robots, while occasionally seen every now and then and making it clear that they were still present, didn't seem to be coming anywhere close to finding them, giving them the chance to escape still. They hoped that they could make use of that chance before all of that changed.

They had no such luck. Completely without warning, one of the robots flew by right over their heads, its spotlight shining right down upon them through an opening in the canopy of trees above them, lighting them up like it was the middle of the day, before passing right on over. The Babylon Rogues froze, all three of them holding their breath as they hoped the robot had missed them, turning to look in its direction. But of course, the robot couldn't have helped but see them, and quickly started to double back towards them.

"Run!" Jet exclaimed.

The three rogues ran on deeper into the forest as the robot returned and dropped down onto the ground to give chase on foot. It was quickly joined by several more as the first robot no doubt relayed news of its discovery to the others. Soon the forest was alight with their spotlights as they sought their prey. Meanwhile, the rogues ran away from them as fast as they could. For Jet, walking was one thing, but running was proving to be quite another and with his injuries, was slowing him down. So Storm finally picked him up in his arms and carried him as he ran, despite Jet's protests.

They ran on, looking for some place to hide, or some means to escape or at the very least fight back, but none came up. Then, suddenly, and completely without warning, the forest abruptly terminated before them as the ground dropped down into a deep, wide, and dark canyon. Skidding to a halt at its edge, they all peered down into the inky depths, hearing rapids flowing down at the bottom.

"How are we going to get past _this_?" Jet exclaimed, as he forcibly clambered out of Storm's arms and onto his feet again.

"I…I don't know!" Wave exclaimed back, seeking for some idea but finding none.

By that point, they had ran out of time, and all at once, the robots burst out of the foliage behind them, guns and spotlights locking on them as they gathered around the trapped rogues. One robot with a screen on his chest stepped to the front of the group, displaying an extremely pleased Eggman on it.

"Well, look what we have here!" Eggman exclaimed via the transmission. "Three Babylon Rogues cornered like a genie in a bottle!" he laughed at his jab at the rogues. "Did you _really _think you could resist the great Dr. Eggman?"

"Yes, and we aren't afraid to do it again, Eggman!" Jet exclaimed loudly, grabbing a rock and hurling at the robot.

The rock hit the robot square on its metallic head with a clang, causing it to stumble backwards. Eggman cried out in complaint to the robot, telling him to stand straight so he could see what was going on, while one of the other robots fired its weapon in Jet's direction, shooting a small missile. Jet quickly jumped back as the missile hit the ground before him and exploded in a small explosion, but the impact of the blast blew him backwards, and the next thing Jet knew, he was tumbling off the edge of the cliff and into the canyon.

_Not again,_ he thought as he twisted around to see the bottom of the canyon rushing towards him. Once again, he found himself squeezing his eyes shut and bracing himself for impact.

And once again, it never came.

* * *

Storm and Wave ducked and covered their heads as the missile exploded and rained debris on their heads, and looked up in time to see Jet vanish over the side of the canyon.

"_Jet!_" Wave exclaimed, and hurried to the edge as if she hoped she could do to stop Jet from falling, but there was little she could do at that point.

Storm did likewise, then upon seeing that there was nothing he could do, he spun around to face the robot with the screen, staring coldly at Eggman's face displayed on it. "Now look what you've done!"

"Yes, one down, two to go!" Eggman remarked, not at all apologetic. "And I am more than prepared to finish the job, so go ahead and do something reckless if you _really _wish! OR, you could just _surrender_ like you _could've _done in the first place, and maybe _then _your pathetic little lives would've been spared! So, the million dollar question is, _will you surrender?_"

"No!" Wave declared with determination. "We will _never _surrender to you, Eggman!"

Eggman's eyes narrowed on the screen. "Wrong answer."

The robots all went on the defensive, and raised their weapons preparing to fire. Storm and Wave, realizing there was nothing more they could do, braced themselves.

Then, just before the robots could start firing, Jet suddenly flew up out of the canyon behind them, grabbed both Storm and Wave, and yanked them off the edge of the cliff just as the robots opened fire.


	4. Flying

Another chapter that I'm pleased with. :) Picks up from where the last chapter left off.

4.

Flying

Wave wasn't entirely certain what had happened at first. One moment, she was standing at the edge of the cliff, pinned down by an army of deadly Eggman robots, feeling a whole flood of emotions washing over her ranging from remorse to fury, thinking that the end was just about to come for her. Then at the next moment, she felt something grab her by the arm and violently jerk her backwards. Stumbling backwards, she quickly lost her footing and toppled over into the open air, falling off the edge of the cliff and into the canyon itself.

She had a spilt second to see look back upwards at the cliff edge, appearing to be rapidly rising away from her as she fell, and the bright flashes of light as the Eggman robots, not having sufficient enough a reaction time to adjust for what just happened, fired at the now empty cliff edge, the bullets wasted as they struck nothing but rock, dirt, and empty air, before reality sank in and she started yelling. The fall continued for several moments, and then abruptly jolted to a halt. Wave yelped as she was suddenly flipped around, her arm getting twisted around painfully as whatever had grabbed her in the first place came to a complete stop, but physics dictated that she had to keep moving forward and did so until whatever was holding her kept her from going any further.

It was then that Wave saw something that science couldn't immediately explain. Nothing should be holding her up, yet here she was, dangling several, several, feet up from the bottom of the canyon, only faintly within her vision, something that according to what she knew, she should have kept falling towards until she hit it. Logic and reasoning beginning to fail her, Wave started to panic as her mind failed to comprehend this conundrum, trying to come up with _any_ kind of explanation for it.

"I must be dead!" Wave deduced immediately, speaking aloud without meaning to in her panicked state. "That's the only explanation! I must have already hit the ground and died, and this is just some…aftereffect of it! Either that or I'm unconscious _about _to die, and am just hallucinating, which is just as likely…"

"Actually…I think you're _not_ hallucinating…" Storm suddenly remarked slowly and gruffly.

Wave glanced over at him, and realized for the first time she was dangling beside her as well, staring down at the ground himself and also trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. But even more importantly, however, right in her line of vision, was an extremely familiar pair of red boots. Wave gaze then traveled up the boot owner's legs, body, until she finally gazed up at his face. It was Jet. He was the one who had grabbed her and Storm and saved them by pulling them off the edge of the cliff, and was what was holding them up.

However, nothing seemed to be holding _Jet_ up, yet here he was anyway.

Wave's befuddlement increased ten-fold. "Now I _know_ I'm hallucinating!" was the only satisfactory deduction she could come up with for the moment.

"Shut up and be quiet!" Jet snapped in a harsh whisper, ignoring them both as he focused his attention up at the top of the cliff.

High above them, Eggman's robots could be seen standing at the edge now, peering down into the canyon and sweeping their spotlights around, searching for the missing Babylon Rogues. Obviously, the robots were hoping that if they all worked together, the combined use of their spotlights would quickly reveal where they were, and if they were even still alive. Or at the very least explain what had just happened, because Jet was fairly confident Eggman knew that something wasn't adding up about all of this. Lucky for them, however, even all the robots working together wasn't going to be enough to light the whole canyon and prevent any chance of the rogues escaping. The canyon was simply too big and too dark to light all at once. Instead, the robots were only lighting up parts of the canyon while leaving the rest in the dark, and were currently completely ignoring the canyon's other ledge.

It was Jet's goal to reach this other ledge on the canyon's opposite side, and get them all back on solid ground. While they were technically safe where they were at already, sitting in a blind spot where the robots just wouldn't be able to see them, the hawk had no plans of staying here much longer. This was because, in an ideal world, he could theoretically stay here and hide as long as needed until the robots left. But this wasn't an ideal world. Jet knew Eggman wouldn't give up so easily, and probably wouldn't leave the canyon alone until he had either found the rogues, or and searched it from top to bottom and confirmed that they couldn't possibly be in it.

Furthermore, Jet was holding up Wave and Storm in addition to himself, and while his newfound ability of self-sustained flight allowed him to keep himself up with ease, it couldn't be applied to his two companions. Storm alone was heavy enough as it was, but their weights combined made it a struggle for Jet to keep them up. He was lucky to have managed to keep up for this long. So knowing he couldn't keep this up, he acknowledged the need, and sought a way, to get back on solid ground.

So he watched the spotlight as they swept over the sides of the canyon, searching for an opening to slip past them, unnoticed, and escape to the canyon's other side and escaped under the cover of night while Eggman was distracted. It took another few moments, but finally he saw the opening he was looking forward, and directed himself towards the canyon's other wall quickly, while the spot in question remained in darkness. His newfound ability obeyed his wishes, and he flew seamlessly in the wanted direction, but seeing his control over this ability also seemed iffy at best, Jet wasn't sure it would last, all the more reason to get back on solid ground.

They reached the canyon's other wall without event, while Storm watched Jet do it in awe, and Wave in nervous uncertainty, grabbing at Jet's arm tightly during the trip. Now they were out of the blind spot, however, and were in the line of vision of the robots, should they happen to point their spotlights on them, though, so Jet didn't stop there. Moving slowly, avoiding the bright circles of light being cast from the robots as they traveled near them, the rose up along the canyon wall, and eventually arrived at the ledge.

Hovering over solid ground, Jet moved a few feet inward from the ledge until they were safely back within the forest that blanketed this side of the canyon as well as the other, Eggman and his robots completely unaware they were here. Wave and Storm quickly slipped themselves out of Jet's grasp and back onto solid ground, then turned and looked back up at their rescuer, while Jet attempted to land himself, but couldn't seem to get himself to stop flying and get back on solid ground again.

Wave still hadn't fully come to terms with this newly-revealed ability of Jet's. "How are you _doing_ that?" she demanded finally.

"I don't know!" Jet exclaimed back, hovering just over their heads, still trying, but failing, to land. "All I know is that I can do it! How about you tell _me_, seeing you're the expert in your jibber-jabber science!"

"I-I can't explain this!" Wave proclaimed, irresolute. "Not without doing a thorough examination, at least! There would be tests I would need to run, experiments to do…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!" Jet promptly began to protest. "Absolutely no tests! I'm not about to just resign myself to being your guinea pig, Wave!"

"Jet, so help me, you _will_ sit down and let me run some tests on you the first chance I get, even if I have to strap you down to do it!" Wave proclaimed determinedly, and she meant every word.

Storm, however, was wondering about different things. "How long have you been able to do this, boss?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know that, either!" Jet said. "I just know it first manifested itself when I fell back when we blew up Eggman's fleet!"

"When _you_ blew up Eggman's fleet, you mean!" Wave snapped, but then promptly realized something else. "This is how you survived that fall, isn't it?"

"I think that would've been obvious by now, Wave!"

"But why didn't you tell us about it _then_?"

"Because I wasn't sure if you'd believe me! I wasn't sure if I believed it myself! It happened so quickly, and then ended just as quickly around the time I realized what was happening and just how impossible it—augh!" Before Jet could finish his sentence, the thought apparently triggered his new flight ability to "switch off," because he suddenly fell, face first, to the earth with a thud. "…owwww."

Storm helped him back up, letting the hawk lean on his arm again, like before. Jet was busy dusting himself off when one of the spotlights from Eggman's robots shined through the woods behind them, reminding them of their current predicament. Quickly, all three of them ducked down low, hoping they weren't spotted. Apparently they were, because the spotlight traveled onward, and no attacking robots came racing their way.

"Look, we'll worry about this later," Jet said in a low voice to the others, once they were sure they weren't discovered yet. "Right now, we need to get out of here and to safety while Egghead back there is still distracted. He's going to realize we're no longer in that canyon sooner rather than later."

Wave nodded in agreement. "You're right," she said, and looked around to get her bearings. "This way should lead us back towards Apotos, so c'mon, let's get out here. I'm sure you two have had enough of Eggman like I have."

Glancing back to make sure they still hadn't been spotted by the robots, they hurried off into the dark forest, hoping they would reach safety soon.

* * *

It wasn't until early the next morning, however, that they finally reached a small Apotos village near the coast. Exhausted, and having walked tirelessly through the forest the whole night, the rouges looked into the village as it started to wake up for the day, then strolled wearily right on in. They quickly started drawing the gazes of the locals, who stared after the three rouges as they strolled through the village streets. Jet figured they must have been quite a sight at this point, being both tired and dirtied from their long escapade to elude Eggman, added to the fact that Jet was injured and leaning on Storm still for support. But at this point, he really didn't care anymore, just so long as they had indeed managed to elude Eggman for the time being.

It certainly seemed like they had, because everything was peaceful in the village. Nothing was out of place. No robots anywhere in sight. It seemed they were safe for now.

The rogues quickly agreed after that to find a place where they could stay until they could get back on their feet fully. They searched the small village for just such a place, until finally they came across the village's only hotel, a small, white-washed, three-story building. Moving slowly, they hobbled inside the small lobby.

Inside, a slightly overweight, middle-aged man, probably the owner, stood behind the service desk. He was working on some paperwork when the rogues came in. Glancing up at them, he stared at them for a long moment, unsure what to make of their unexpected arrival.

Jet managed a weak grin. "By any chance would you be willing to give us a room where we can hide from a diabolical mad scientist who's chasing us?" he asked innocently.

* * *

Fortunately for them, the owner _was_ willing to provide them a room to hide in…for the right price, that was. The three rogues just barely managed to pay the fee by pooling together all of the money they happened to have on them. But they walked into their room dead broke now, and the fee would only pay for a one day stay at the hotel. Tomorrow, they would either have to come up with more money somehow to pay the bill, or, more likely, be forced to move on.

So the first thing Wave did when they stepped into the room was to plug her and Storm's Extreme Gear boards in to recharge. It was the only two boards they had now, because Jet had lost his board in the chaos back at the canyon (he had lost his grip on it when he first fell off the cliff, and would've need both hands free to save Wave and Storm later anyway, so the board was probably somewhere on the bottom of the canyon by now unless Eggman had found it and doing who knew what with it by now), not that it would've done them much good anyway, seeing that it was fried. This meant someone was going to have to share boards with Jet.

"But that's just the start of our problems," Wave remarked once they had settled in the room and took the time to sort through their problems. "It's going to take several hours before our boards are fully charged. Eggman might find us again by then. And even if he didn't, we all know that our boards will only take us so far in one go before we have to recharge them _again_. We're going to have to start and stop repeatedly before we start getting anywhere close to home. Our boards just weren't _designed_ for such long journeys. And _then_ there's the fact that one board will be doubly weighed down, and will eat through its power supplies even _faster_ than the other board."

Jet grunted in reply from where he lay stretched out on the hotel room's one bed, trying to get as much rest as he could while he had the chance, and considered the problem. Tired as he was, it was hard to focus on any problems at all, and wished instead he was asleep like Storm, who had planted himself in a corner and promptly dozed off, as evidenced by the albatross's lumbering snores.

"Well…" Jet began finally, having an idea, but like some of his ideas from yesterday, weren't one of his best, "…maybe I can just fly along on my own, and then there wouldn't _be _a board that's too weighed down."

Wave sat herself on the edge of the bed. "You can do that?" she asked curiously.

Jet was forced to shrug. "I don't know," he admitted in tired exasperation. "Like you saw back in the forest, I can't really control it that well, particularly when I want to turn it on or off. But…seeing I have this ability now, it seems like it'd be stupid to not put it to use."

Wave considered this possibility for a few moments. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Jet," she admitted. "I mean, we don't know a thing about this new…power of yours. We don't know what kind of consequences there might be for you to use it. It could be harmful to you to do long term like that for all you know."

Jet snorted at the idea. "Hasn't seemed to cause me any harm thus far," he pointed out. "In fact, because of it, it's saved _your _lives, and my life alone _twice_. Seems it's pretty handy to have around."

"I'd still prefer that you didn't mess with it until we know more about it," Wave pressed.

Jet groaned. "Well, I don't have any _better_ ideas," he stated. "So unless you've got an idea, we don't really have much of a choice."

"Well, actually…" Wave began slowly, "…I do." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small leather-bound notebook Jet knew she kept on hand to jot notes down in. She held it up before Jet. "I have a number I can call in here. As much as I hate to say it, Jet, but…I think we're not going to get out of this on our own. We need help."

Jet stared at her for a long moment, and then groaned again. "You're serious, aren't you?" he asked.

"Well, why wouldn't I be?" Wave snapped, annoyed. "Do you not _realize _that _all_ of our lives are at stake here?"

"Wave, I hate getting help for anything under normal circumstances, but do _you_ realize that if you _do_ go get help, you're going to be putting _their_ lives on the line as well?"

"I think that who I have in mind can handle it," Wave said confidently. "Besides, it's the best idea that _I _have, and we really can't afford to sit around and argue this for much longer. Eggman could be catching up with us at any time now."

Jet stared at her for a long moment, but was forced to admit that she had a good point. "Fine," he mumbled, and shooed her towards the door. "Go make your call. Wake me up when they get here. Or Eggman gets here. Whichever comes first."

Wave nodded, and grinning in relief, went to do just that. Downstairs in the lobby of the hotel, was a small hovering computer device with a screen on it. These devices were common across the world, and were used for a variety of things. Usually for tourists, they were used as kiosks to get directions from. Wave, however, was interested in the device's ability to place long distance video calls, and was thankful that this service was also free, seeing she was penniless.

Setting up the system to be ready to input her call, she flipped through her notebook until she found the number she wanted, one of the few notes that had _not_ been written in her own hand, and also one of the few notes that she didn't think she'd ever need. Now she was also thankful she had it as she typed it into the computer and sent the call. The system was busy for a moment as it made the necessary connections, then for a moment longer as it waited for the person on the other end to pick up. After a few tense moments, just as Wave was starting to fear no one was going to answer, the screen changed and displayed the face of exactly the very person she was hoping would answer.

"Hello, you have reached…" he began automatically, but trailed off once he realized who he was talking to, and was silent for a moment. "Well…this is…" he hesitated, looking for the right word, "…unexpected."

Wave nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know," she admitted, "but while I _never _thought I'd ever say this, I'm calling to ask you for your help."


	5. Assistance

Help arrives. But whether or not it's actually helpful is to be debated. :P

5.

Assistance

Per Jet's request, Wave let Jet get some sleep while they waited for their help to arrive, but it was only about an hour's wait before she was waking both him and Storm up so to go meet their help, to Jet's dismay. After last night's tense events and their long hike, an hour of sleep was nowhere near enough for anyone. But Jet shrugged off his tiredness as best as he could, seeing the need to be present to greet their arriving helpers. At least he could support his own weight now, and didn't have to lean on Storm anymore. He'd hate to have to greet their help while looking so…_weak_.

But that wasn't the end of Jet's problems. He should've started to become suspicious when Wave took them out to an empty field just outside the village where their helpers were to land (seeing the village naturally didn't have an airport), but Jet was too tired to put two with two. It wasn't until the plane itself started to fly into view that Jet realized that Wave, probably on purpose, had never told him exactly _who_ it was that she had called for help.

Now she didn't need to. The familiar, classy, red biplane was more than enough for Jet to figure it out.

"Oh no," he groaned, pinching his brow with two fingers in frustration, "Wave, you called _them_?"

Wave winced, having fully expected this reaction from Jet. "It seemed the logical choice," she confessed.

"Logical, logical, why is it always _logical_ to you?"

"I'm not happy about it either, you know. But really, who _else_ could we turn to that would be better than _them_?"

"Is _that_ why you just so happened to have _their_ number on hand?"

"_No_, I happened to have it on hand, because the sidekick insisted he give it to me a while ago, after that incident with the Arks of the Cosmos. I only relented to get him off my case, nothing more. I _never_ thought before today that I would actually use it."

"I dunno, I think we might have been better off on our own," Storm grumbled as they watched the plane come in for a landing.

"Look, any other way, and the odds are against us," Wave argued, pointing out the bare facts of their situation, "This way, we actually have a _fighting_ chance to get out of this in the end alive."

Jet growled under his breath, but he was forced to admit that Wave's argument was making sense. "She's right," he admitted, "I'm not happy about it, but she's right. So we're just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, because it looks like we're going to have to set aside our _differences_ and work together. So everybody try and be polite."

Which, Jet knew, wasn't going to be easy for him especially, as he watched the plane land and slide to a graceful stop before them, and an all-too-familiar blue head poked out from the plane's backseat.

"Hey Jet!" Sonic the hedgehog exclaimed cheerfully as he hopped out of the plane, "Long time no see!"

Definitely not going to be easy.

"Hello Sonic," Jet managed to force out flatly through clenched teeth.

Sonic, of course, noticed Jet's apprehension as he strolled up to the rogues. "What, is that really the best welcome you can give me?" he teased.

"I've been having a really bad couple of days lately," Jet grumbled.

"I don't doubt it," Tails the fox agreed as he finished parking the plane and hopped out of the plane himself, belongings in tow. "From what Wave told me with her communiqué, it sounds like you guys have been through a lot."

"That's putting it bluntly," Jet remarked then glanced at Wave. "How much _did_ you tell them, anyway?"

"Just the basics, Jet," Wave replied, glancing back. "But I'm sure we'll explain more as the situation demands it, of course, _right_?"

She wasn't flat out saying it because she knew Jet didn't want her to at the moment, but she was implying that she expected them to reveal Jet's newfound flight ability to Sonic and Tails, sooner rather than later. Jet would rather that she just drop the subject for now, as he really didn't think this was the time or place to get as worked up over it as she was, and anyway, as he pointed out to her before, the ability, however mysterious, had proved to be extremely useful already. But this _was_ Wave he was thinking about. She wasn't going to drop the subject until she had some answers.

"So I hear you've been having some Eggman trouble," Sonic commented once Tails had joined them. "What's Baldy McNosehair up to now?"

He laughed at his name calling. Tails joined in. Except for a chuckle from Storm, however, the rogues did not join in, the humor of the apparent inside joke lost on them.

"Apparently, he's found chasing _you_ all the time to extract revenge too difficult, so now he's looking to extract it from _us_." Jet remarked in complete seriousness.

"What the heck for?" Sonic asked, not understanding. "What have you guys ever done to _him_? Except for that one time when he tried to steal that ancient Babylonian treasure thingy that you three were so excited over. Or that time with the gravity-bending Cosmo-thingies. Or when Eggman staged that fake Extreme Gear contest, and we…um…" he trailed off, scratching at his blue quills from a moment before half-smiling. "Then again, I guess you guys _have_ done a few things to tick Eggman off."

"We've noticed," Wave commented, adopting Jet's flat tone for this comment.

"So what's the plan?" Tails inquired. "I understand your airship got destroyed, and your boards are either short on power or missing. I take it you wanted a lift back to somewhere then? Like Megalo City or someplace like that?"

"Just anywhere from Eggman's reach," Strom grunted.

"Seeing that this is Eggman we're talking about, that could be difficult to achieve," Sonic remarked. "As much as we all hate it, the guy can pretty much come and go to wherever he wants to. Anybody objects to that, and he's got the tech to get them to change their minds."

"For the moment I think it'd just be best we got as far from Apotos as possible, as that's going to be the most likely spot Eggman's going to start searching for us at," Jet reasoned.

"But then Eggman will still be after you," Sonic pointed out. "I say we hunt down the Eggster and discourage him from bugging you three anymore by beating some serious Eggman butt!"

"But uh, Sonic, we don't know where Eggman's is at the moment, nor what kind of odds we'd be up against," Tails reminded his friend. "Plus, there is the possibility that any kind action we take against him like that could be just what he wants, as it we would be leading him right to the very thing he wants."

"Which is all of us," Storm added.

"Oh, yeah, I suppose that's true," Sonic admitted, deflating a little at the thought of being robbed of the chance of fighting Eggman on this occasion.

"It's not always about fighting, Sonic," Jet pointed out hotly, "The best plans of action require careful planning and consideration before being put to use, not just recklessly running into a situation without even knowing what's going on. Maybe if you did the same, you would have beaten Eggman _for good_ by now."

"But reckless running without thinking has always worked before," Sonic pointed out with a cocky smirk that bugged Jet.

"Won't do us any good this time unless we've got some defenses of our own," Jet pointed out. "And we lost all of ours with our airship."

"Which was _his_ fault, not ours, by the way," Wave remarked quickly, jabbing a finger at Jet. Jet only rolled his eyes in response.

"If only we still had our airship," Storm lamented aloud. "We'd be doing a whole lot better then."

"Well, maybe you can build a new one," Tails suggested. "At my workshop, I have more than enough tools and equipment to do it with, not to mention the space. Maybe we can take you over there where you can lie low for a little while until you've got yourselves a _new_ airship."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Sonic remarked, liking this idea.

Storm and Wave didn't seem to have any qualms about the proposed plan either, because they didn't complain, so all eyes turned to Jet, as he got the final say. He glanced back at everyone in annoyance. He supposed it was a good plan…save for the fact that it probably mean he'd have to bunk with the likes of Sonic the hedgehog for a few days. But it was either that, or risk another run in with Eggman and probably face death. It all boiled down to whichever Jet wanted to deal with more, Eggman, and thereby death, or Sonic. Sonic or death. Death or Sonic.

It was a tough choice.

"It's your call, Jet," Sonic reminded after a few moments.

Jet debated for a few more moments, and then finally threw his hands into the air. "All right, fine!" he proclaimed. "I guess I don't really have a better plan. I just ask you keep out of our way once we get to work."

"Sure thing," Tails remarked with a nod, understanding.

He nudged Sonic, who glanced at him, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure, whatever," he muttered half-heartedly and not very reassuringly for Jet. "So now what?"

"Well, there is one last matter I want to deal with before we go," Wave piped in quickly, and glanced at Tails. "I take it you brought that scanning equipment I asked for?"

"Yeah, I did," Tails replied, holding up his toolbox, but he looked puzzled. "I still don't understand _why_ you wanted it, though."

Wave glanced over at Jet. Jet glanced back, arching his brows in such a way to indicate his disapproval with what he knew Wave had planned. "We'll explain back at the hotel we're staying at," the swallow finally answered. "We have to go back to get our stuff, anyway."

"Guess we're going for a little run, then, eh Tails?" Sonic quipped to his little two-tailed buddy.

"For a little _walk_," Jet corrected, as much as he didn't want to, "We can't all run as fast as you can."

"Oh _yeah_, that's right," Sonic remarked, who naturally took the comment as a boost to his ego, "You can only go as fast as me on your board, not on foot."

Jet fumed at the jab, and wanted nothing more than to prove Sonic wrong then and there, but he forced himself to let it slide.

"Let's just _go_ so we can get this over with?" he pleaded instead.

* * *

By the time they arrived back at the hotel, Sonic's curiosity about what it was the Babylon Rogues had to tell them had reached bursting levels.

"So what's this all about, anyway?" he asked as they all filed into the sparsely furnished room. "Why did you want Tails's scanning equipment?"

"Because I lost all of _mine_ with the airship," Wave snapped at the hedgehog as she closed the door behind them. Jet was glad he wasn't the only one who was getting their nerves grated by Sonic.

"Okay, but what is it you want to scan?" Tails inquired logically, putting more thought into the matter than Sonic was. "Did something else happen in your encounter with Eggman that you haven't told us about?"

"Um," Wave hesitated, probably seeking the right words, but her hesitation only made Tails's worry increase.

Brow furrowed in concern, he looked at the rogues carefully. "What aren't you telling us?" he asked gently.

Wave glanced at Jet. Jet sighed.

"I can fly," he muttered in one quick burst.

Sonic and Tails glanced at each other, missing the significance of the confession.

"So what else is new?" Sonic asked.

"No, I mean I can fly _under my own power_," Jet clarified, grabbing at his forehead in frustration. "No Extreme Gear. No airship. Not even any hidden wires, or wing flapping. I can just…fly. Entirely on my own."

Tails tilted his head, considering this for a few moments as he turned to his toolbox. Sonic scratched his head for a moment, still not entirely sure he understood. "Since when have you been able to do this?" he asked.

"He discovered it just after he blew up our airship, according to him," Wave remarked, still glancing at Jet with a look that Jet felt oddly uncomfortable under. "He used it to save himself from falling to his death. Then, later, when we encountered Eggman again on the ground, he used it again to save all of us."

Tails had pulled out a yellow handheld computer of sorts and turned it on. "And you say this just started randomly?" he asked as he did this.

"Yeah, really kind of out of the blue," Jet admitted, his hand having traveled from his forehead, through his plumage of feathers on his head, to rub the back of his neck. "I _know_ it sounds hard to believe. I almost couldn't believe it myself when it happened for the first time. I had sooner thought I was dreaming or something."

"Well, it's not like we haven't seen weirder things before," Sonic remarked, who seemed generally unfazed by the whole idea now that he had gotten the details he needed.

Tails, meanwhile, was busy scanning Jet with his handheld computer, circling the hawk as he did so. He shook his head. "Well, I'm not _seeing_ anything out of the ordinary," he remarked as he studied the results, "though it would be nice to have some older scans to compare with."

Wave shook her head. "I can't give you any," she remarked simply.

"But the boss really can fly," Storm pressed in Jet's defense. "We all saw him do it with our own eyes."

"I'm not saying that I doubt you," Tails quickly assured them. "I'm just saying that I'm not coming up with any evidence that could explain it right now." He lowered his handheld and studied Jet for a moment, to the hawk's discomfort, not liking the idea of being 'examined' like this. "We'd probably learn more if you'd actually demonstrated this ability, Jet."

"Well, that's going to be problematic," Jet grumbled. "I haven't figured out how to control it like that. It just sort of starts and stops on its own."

"Instinctively, however," Wave added, "Because it always seems to kick in when Jet needs it the most, suggesting some kind of subconscious trigger."

Tails nodded in agreement. "Then we just need to figure out what that trigger is," he remarked. "Jet, try and imagine one of the past situations when this happened in your head. Think about all the emotions and thoughts that were going through your mind at the time. One of them might be the trigger."

Jet thought for a moment, and then squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. Everyone watched intensely, waiting for Jet to suddenly lift off and into the air. But the hawk remained firmly planted to the ground. Aware of this, Jet gave up after a few moments. "I got nothing," he remarked.

"Well, that's anticlimactic," Sonic muttered.

"Sonic," Tails remarked in warning, glancing back at his hedgehog friend, knowing how temperamental the rogues could be.

"Maybe he needs to be in the air for it to actually work," Storm suggested innocently.

"Don't be stupid, Storm, that shouldn't be a requirement," Jet snapped.

"No, he might actually be onto something," Wave remarked, latching onto the idea. "Remember, Jet, this ability always kicked in _while_ you were falling. Recreating that could be the easiest way to find the trigger."

"And how am I going to do that?" Jet demanded.

The others were silent for a moment.

"A running jump?" Storm again suggested innocently.

There was more glancing around at each other for a moment. Seeing nobody had any other ideas, Jet sighed, backed up a few steps, and then ran forward a couple paces before throwing himself into the air in a spread-eagle position…

…and promptly belly-flopped, hard, onto the wooden floor of the hotel room with a crash.

Sonic immediately burst out laughing at the sight. In retrospect, the hedgehog probably didn't mean much harm from it, but for Jet's worn and tired temper, it was the last straw. With a loud growl, he sprang to his feet and was on Sonic in seconds, ramming him against the wall of the room.

"Jet!" Wave cried out in warning, wanting him to back off.

But Jet ignored her, instead grabbing Sonic and lifting him off his feet as he slid the hedgehog up the wall. "You think that's funny, do you? Well, do you also find Eggman trying to _kill_ us funny? _Hmm?_ Because I certainly don't!"

"Uh, boss…" Storm spoke suddenly, but Jet ignored him too.

"Do you not _realize_ what we've been through?" the hawk exclaimed in Sonic's face. "We've been shot at, threatened, and nearly killed _repeatedly_ throughout all of this! And you have the _gall_ to mock our situation, you son of a…"

"Uh Jet, if I may interrupt your ranting for a moment…" Sonic interrupted calmly, tapping Jet on the shoulder.

"_WHAT?_" Jet snapped.

Sonic merely smirked and pointed down. Jet glanced at his feet, and saw that his feet were already three to four off the ground, and rising still. Gasping in surprise, he released Sonic, causing the hedgehog to drop down to the floor with a thud as Jet looked at himself in awe, feeling adrenaline starting to pump through his veins in excitement at what he was doing. His anger vanishing, Jet allowed himself a grin.

He was flying.

Tails was already conducting new scans with his handheld, Wave urgently looking over his shoulder. Their eyes were a flurry as they read the complicated readings the computer spat back out at them.

"So…how is Jet doing this Superman impression?" Sonic asked after a few moments, picking himself off the floor. "You guys got any more clues?"

But the furrowed brows that were now forming on Tails's and Wave's faces indicated that they didn't.

"This is really weird," Tails remarked aloud as he pressed buttons, "There really isn't _any_ change in Jet's physiology from when he was just standing in the middle of the room to now at all. Just a heightened metabolism as his body attempts to produce more energy to use."

"I'm guessing this flight ability burns that energy to work," Wave supposed. "But that doesn't tell us anything about the mechanisms that make it function at all. It doesn't even give us very many hints to work with."

"But you have some ideas," Sonic prompted quickly, "Right?"

"Well, yeah, I have a few ideas," Tails admitted, glancing up at Sonic, "but…" He shook his head. "None of these readings really match up with _any_ of those ideas."

"So in other words, you've got nothing," Jet remarked from where he hovered near the ceiling.

"Pretty much," Wave admitted.

"Maybe our scans just aren't thorough enough," Tails suggested, trying to be optimistic. "Maybe we need to use some more powerful equipment instead."

"Do you even _have_ any equipment like that?" Wave asked, running through her head the kind of equipment that would require and was skeptical Tails had it.

But he did. "Yeah, at my workshop," the young fox said with a nod. "Seeing it was the plan to head over there anyway, it shouldn't be any trouble to head over there to use it."

"All right," Jet remarked, sighing, and resting one hand on the wall beside him, contemplated how to get down again. "Just…give me a moment to figure out how to land again."

However, by this point in time, Storm had noticed something. "Does anybody else feel that?" he asked suddenly.

Everybody was silent for a moment as they attuned their senses to search for whatever it was Storm was feeling. It didn't take long to realize what it was. A vibration in the walls and floor that was steadily growing larger. Feeling his stomach clench in apprehension as he already guessed the source of the vibrations, Sonic stepped over to the window and glanced out it.

"Uh-oh," he remarked, "Looks like we've overstayed our welcome."

"Oh, don't tell me," Jet bemoaned, already coming to the same conclusion Sonic had.

"Yep," Sonic said anyway, as a shadow cast itself over the little Apotos village. "It's Eggman."


	6. Eggman Returns

Another little melee with Eggman. This battle goes even worse for Eggman than the first one, but then there were a few factors that he had failed to take into consideration, too. ;) It's not my best chapter either, but oh well.

6.

Eggman Returns

But it seemed Eggman didn't know where exactly they were at.

As the massive craft loomed over the city, slowly to a stop so to hover over the Apotos village, a megaphone clicked on somewhere within the ship, and soon thereafter, Eggman's voice echoed out of it and into the village.

"Attention small Apotos village…whose exact name alludes me off hand," Eggman was heard speaking by all, "I am the famous Dr. Eggman! The eventual leader and ruler of this world! Now, despite that reputation, there is no need for you all to panic! You simply need to give me some directions, specifically to where I might find the Babylon Rogues. I have reason to believe that they might be hiding in your fair but puny village, and I will spare _all_ of your lives if you will just point me to where they are hiding, or wherever _you_ might be hiding them! They're hard to miss, being the big, walking, bird-like things they are. Answer to the names of Jet, Storm, and Wave. Again, your response will be appreciated…if it is given to me quickly! And again, there is no need to panic! So stop panicking! I'm looking at you people running about in the streets and panicking! STOP IT!"

Sonic couldn't help but snort at these comments as he watched all of this go on throughout the hotel window. "I know that this is a very serious situation, and I probably shouldn't be laughing, but I don't think Eggman's helping himself here," he remarked.

"He's not exactly helping _us_, either," Wave pointed out, as she, Tails, and Storm joined Sonic at the window.

"Yeah, how are we going to get past _him_?" Storm inquired, looking apprehensively. "No doubt he's going to see us the moment we try and escape…"

Tails, however, was already looking at Sonic. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If you're thinking we need a distraction then I'm way ahead of you, little buddy!" Sonic declared, pulling open the window and starting to climb out of it.

"Wait!" Wave said, stopping him for a moment by grabbing his arm, "where do you think you're going?"

"To provide the distraction!" Sonic replied brightly. "What did you think I was going to do? Run to the store for milk?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Eggman's not going to pass up on the chance to try and get you too! And the moment he knows you're here too…"

"Would you relax? I do this all the time!"

And so, with a final salute at the swallow, Sonic pulled free of Wave's grasp and skidded down part of the slanting roof that was outside the window before vaulting off it onto another roof. From there, he jumped from roof to roof, his jumps getting longer and higher as he went faster and faster, clearly heading towards a small spire that sat about a block or two away from the hotel. It was tall enough that upon mounting it, it would allow Sonic to jump the gap between him and Eggman's ship.

Wave watched him go for a few moments, then turned to Tails. "You're just going to let him do that?" she asked, surprised.

Tails shrugged, completely unalarmed as he went about packing up his equipment. "Should I be?"

"I think what Wave is saying is that what Sonic's planning to do might be a little dangerous," Storm clarified unnecessarily.

Tails grinned. "Tell that to Sonic later, and he'll tell you that he laughs in the face of danger," he remarked. "Now we need to be going, while we've got the chance, so c'mon, gather your stuff, and…"

"Hey, wait a minute here!" Jet suddenly exclaimed, still hovering near the ceiling. "Are you guys forgetting me?"

They all glanced up at him.

"Well then, get _down_ from there already, Jet!" Wave instructed.

"I've been _trying_!" Jet exclaimed in frustration, pushing off from the ceiling to try and push himself downward, only to rise back up to bump his head on it again. "But you see? I can't do it! I'm stuck going up!"

The others glanced at each other for a few moments, the seriousness of this problem sinking in.

"See, I _knew_ we probably shouldn't have switched that on!" Wave exclaimed finally. "It was a bad idea from the beginning!"

"A _bad _idea?" Jet repeated in anger. "Weren't _you_ the one who encouraged me to do this?"

"Look, we don't have time to fight over this!" Tails urged, interrupting. "We're going to have to come up with some means of getting you down enough to get out of here, Jet. And quickly. As much as I hate to admit it, we probably _are_ on the clock."

* * *

"So, to recap, just in case any of you misunderstood, or weren't listening the first time," Eggman began again, trying to force himself into keeping calm as he continued to speak into the microphone on the control panel before him, "Just hand me over the Babylon Rogues, all three of them, to me, and you can go on living your simple lives doing whatever it is that you do for a living. Other than cowering every day in fear of my eventual takeover of the world, of course. But never mind that, today, I'm just interested in the Babylon Rogues. Again, they are Jet, Wave, and Storm. Not in that order, of course, just hand them over in any order you feel need, just do it quickly please, because I AM in a hurry. I mean it now! C'mon, is this _really_ so hard?"

He was just about to start diving into giving more serious threats, losing patience with the village populace that seemed more interested in panicking than giving in to his demands, when he noticed something moving out on the outside of the ship's hull, moving rapidly towards the bridge where he stood. He was just on the verge of figuring out what it was when the object jumped up and hurled itself in the form of a spinning blue ball towards the bridge windows. Eggman yelped, and quickly ducked to one side in time for the ball to smash through the window, sail dangerously past him, and hit the floor, unfurling instantly as Sonic came to a skidding to a halt, wearing his usual cocky smirk.

"Sonic!" Eggman exclaimed, twisting around to face him, "Of all the—what are _you_ doing here?"

"Shouldn't you have figured it out by now, Eggman?" Sonic asked, calmly pushing himself up into a standing position and dusting himself off, "Wherever you go, I follow. Especially when you cause trouble."

"Oh really? What about that time when you attacked my fleet in orbit for no good reason? I wasn't causing any trouble _then_."

"Oh you were _too_. You were plotting to split the planet into pieces, and was just _hoping_ I'd turn up so you could steal the Chaos Emeralds from me so to power your little project. And we all know how _that_ turned out." Sonic grinned. "But we aren't here to reminisce, are we?"

"No, I suppose we aren't, but for once, this doesn't concern you! This is just a personal conflict with me and those pesky Babylon Rogues!"

"What do you _seriously_ want from them, Eggman?"

"What else? I want revenge for them interfering with my plans!"

"And you really thought you'd succeed? Furthermore, they've only messed up your lame plots to 'conquer' the world three times now! I've done that many more times than a mere measly three, so why not go after _me_, like you _usually _do?"

"Because going after you is…hard," Eggman confessed with some reluctance.

Sonic laughed at this. "Never thought I'd actually hear you admit _that_," he said, "What? Am I too fast for you?"

Eggman frowned, and half-turned back to the control panel behind him. "Maybe. But are you fast enough to stop _this_?"

And with that, he pressed the auto-fire button for the ship's cannons.

* * *

The others were still trying to work out how they were going to get Jet out of there when he couldn't land, with Storm being in the middle of suggesting that they try tying a rope to Jet and towing him out (which Jet found to be the most indignant idea they'd suggested yet) when they heard a steady stream of banging noises that seemed to be rapidly growing towards them. Tails and Wave hurried to the window, Wave arriving first, but no sooner had she arrived there she spun back around, grabbed Tails, and threw the fox kit and herself to the floor.

Before she had even hit the floor, the whole wall the window was in suddenly exploded as weapons fire struck it, spraying fiery debris everywhere. Jet yelled out in alarm, but could do nothing where he was but shield himself from the blast as best as he could. Gagging on the smoke once the worst of the blast lessened, he started to look around when he heard the hotel room suddenly groan, and then the ceiling directly above him suddenly gave away and fell away. When it fell away, Jet, of course, rose up.

Surprised, he looked back down at him as he rose up, seeing the half-destroyed hotel room below him, and a line of other damaged structures leading up to it, smoke streaming from the damage. It was obvious that it was caused by weapons fire, probably from Eggman's ship.

Around then, Jet realized he was rising up in the air, within sight of that craft.

Feeling his heartbeat quicken, he slowly turned himself around and saw Eggman's ship hovering dangerously close to him, the cannons on the craft still smoking from when they fired the first shots, and were ready to fire more.

And he was in their line of fire.

"Oh _crap_," Jet muttered.

* * *

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed upon realizing what was happening, and zipped up to Eggman to give him a piece of mind.

Eggman promptly stuck out one hand and placed it on Sonic's head, bringing the hedgehog to a stop. "Ha!" he exclaimed, a little surprised at how well that worked, "The best solution is always the simplest it se—OW!"

Eggman leapt back when Sonic kicked him in the shin, instinctively taking his hands off Sonic to grab at the injured leg. Sonic used that as his chance to give Eggman a shove, forcing the rotund scientist to overbalance and crash in a corner of the room. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sonic went to the control panel with the idea of turning the auto-firing weapons off himself. But then he noticed that the weapons were now targeting something other than the city, something that apparently hovered near the ship. Puzzled, Sonic glanced out the bridge window and saw Jet hovering there helplessly.

"Ohhh…there's always a bigger problem…why _is_ that?" Sonic muttered to himself as he sought for the control that would turn the weapons off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jet was thinking to himself that now would be a really good time for him to figure out how to control his new flight power before he got shot by the cannons that were quite clearly aiming for _him_ by now. Luckily, his power obeyed, and suddenly Jet found himself shooting to one side. Just in time too, because the cannons fired a second too late, and the shots narrowly whizzed past Jet.

Deciding that he needed to make himself a target that would be even harder to hit, he shot for the ship, moving as close to it as he dared. He figured that if he got close enough, the cannons wouldn't be able to hit him. Not that they didn't try, though. The cannons tried their hardest to keep shooting at him, but ended up hitting the ship itself, dealing it damage. Dodging the explosions this created, Jet flew along the length of the ship, worrying more about trying to escape the danger he faced than the damage he was inadvertently doing.

* * *

But the damage also served as a double-edged sword.

Sonic had finally found the button that would deactivate the cannons, but when he pressed it, it instead just spat sparks at him and shorted out, doing nothing. Jet's actions outside causing the cannons to damage the very ship they were trying to defend had inadvertently blown out their controls. Sonic was just about to go looking for other options when Eggman suddenly grabbed him from behind.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed in victory, "You've been a thorn in my side for long enough!"

"I think you mean quills, not thorns, Eggman!" Sonic corrected, and allowed his blue quills to bristle, poking themselves into Eggman's front.

Eggman yelped and backed himself away from Sonic, but still worked to keep a grasp on Sonic. Sonic responded by trying to shrug himself out of Eggman's firm, but loosening, grip. He then caught sight of Jet suddenly zipping past outside the bridge, and one of the cannons slowly turning to try and shoot him, about to fire. Acting quickly, Sonic pushed off the control panel before him and flipped himself over top Eggman and to the floor behind him. Eggman started to over balance and topple over.

Before he got the chance to, however, the cannon fired at Jet several seconds too late and instead struck the side of the bridge, causing it to explode brilliantly. The blast knocked Sonic to the back of the bridge, and Eggman to the other, intact, side, where a beam fell on him, pinning him to the floor. Sonic ignored him as he began to grunt and protest, trying but failing to free himself, and instead hurried to the hole that had been blasted in the bridge and peered out at it, trying to catch sight of Jet again.

He had an idea.

* * *

Jet flew up to the nose of the ship, wincing every time he heard one of the ship's cannons fire. But the cannons had yet to actually hit him. They were having better luck hitting Eggman's ship than him, and was leaving ugly black scars all over it. Jet ignored this as he flew on. He just needed to escape, and quickly, because he wasn't sure for how much longer he could keep control of his flight ability.

However, when he reached the end of the ship, he realized that with the cannons still trying to shoot at him, he would be a slightly easier target to hit once he left the shelter of the ship. He hesitated a moment, coming to a stop as he pondered his next move. He hesitated a moment too long, and narrowly got hit as the cannons, catching up to him, fired again and missed within what felt like inches of actually hitting him. Startled, he started flying back up the length of the ship, with the intent doing it long enough to just throw off the aim of the cannons so to attempt an escape.

But then he saw Sonic standing in the hole that had been left in the bridge, waving at him. Having nearly forgotten about Sonic, Jet flew towards him, but didn't stick around for long, remembering that the cannons were still tracking him. Fortunately, Sonic seemed to understand this.

"The engines!" he called simply as Jet flew past, and pointed towards the backend of the ship.

Jet glanced ahead of him then suddenly understood what Sonic was getting at. Actually liking this idea, Jet grinned, and flew onward, now actually hoping that the cannons were still watching his every move…

* * *

Seeing that Jet had understood, Sonic grinned, and climbed into the hole, looking out at the hull beyond.

"Now where do you think you're going?" Eggman demanded from behind him, still pinned under the fallen beam, and struggling to get out from under it.

Sonic glanced back at him. "Well, seeing that this has been an unusually _boring_ battle with you, Eggman, and that it's about to end, I figure there's no need to stick around any longer."

"About to end?" Eggman repeated, both angry and puzzled. He hadn't seen Jet flying around, and didn't know what was about to come. "What are you talking about hedgehog? I haven't even _begun_ to fight!"

"That's obvious," Sonic chortled, and with that, jumped out the hole in the bridge, skidded down the sloping side of the ship's hull, and ran out onto one of its wingtips, leaving Eggman pinned right where he was, unable to do much but struggle.

* * *

Jet flew to the engines of the ship, and then started circling around them, trying to draw the attention of the cannons positioned on the ship. When they didn't immediately fire, the hawk wondered if they weren't as stupidly programmed as was first thought. But finally, they didn't disappoint, and started firing. All of their shots missed, and hit the ship's engines, or near it. Soon the engines started sputtering, the cannons suddenly shut off, and the whole ship started to list to one side.

His job done, Jet turned to fly off, but saw Sonic waving him down again, standing on the edge of the ship's wing. Wondering what the hedgehog wanted now, he flew over.

"Now what?" he demanded once he was in speaking range.

Sonic jumped on his back. "I wanted a ride down!" he replied innocently.

The fact that he'd never come up with a good enough excuse to do it kept Jet from dropping Sonic then and there, and instead withheld his retorts and flew back down to the ground.

* * *

For Eggman, however, the listing of the ship actually proved to be a good thing, because it allowed the doctor to finally get the leverage to shift that beam off of him and hurry over to the ship's miraculously still functioning controls. Acting quickly, he kept the ship from flying over the village and from crashing into the sea, and moving it back up to a more stable flight. Once there, Eggman had every want and will to turn back and settle the fight properly…but was forced to admit that his ship was in no condition for this, and, not having expected getting in a conflict such as this, had stupidly come without an army of robots. Continuing the fight would be pointless.

"Grr!" Eggman growled, pounding the control panel as he reluctantly set a course to fly the ship away from the Apotos village, "Why does this always happen to _me_? And who would've expected Sonic to be there, anyway?" he shook his head. "At least one thing _is_ clear, though. If Sonic's here, then he's likely here to help keep me away from those blasted birds. Well, two can play at that game. I assure you, Sonic, I am not finished with this just yet."

* * *

But if Sonic felt the need to worry, he wasn't showing it at all.

"Ha, that had to have been the easiest battle with Eggman I have _ever_ had!" he crowed happily. "I think the ol' Eggster is losing his touch!"

Jet, meanwhile, was trying to land, but had only has gotten as close as hovering just off the ground. "If only that was the end of my problems, though!" he exclaimed in frustration, not sharing in Sonic's enthusiasm.

Sonic glanced over at the hawk, and attempted to assist by pulling him the rest of the way to the ground. "You know, you did pretty good up there yourself, Jet," he remarked as he did this, releasing Jet again to see if he'd stay, but instead the hawk floated back up again.

Jet wasn't expecting this compliment from Sonic. "You really think so?" he asked, then recovering from his initial surprise, added, "Oh wait, you're just saying that, aren't you?"

Sonic shook his head. "No, I mean it, unplanned as all of that was, you pulled through, not that I didn't expect you to, of course. I must admit that flying ability is kinda handy."

Jet looked himself over, and felt a little surge of pride rise up within him. "Yeah, I suppose it is," he remarked confidently. "You jealous, hedgehog?"

Sonic frowned. "I wouldn't go _that_ far."

Jet had gone back to trying to land unsuccessfully again. "Now if only I could turn it off when I want it to," he muttered.

It was then that Wave, Storm, and Tails exited what remained of the hotel, no worse for wear from the attack earlier. Spotting the pair instantly, they hurried right over.

"Jet!" Wave exclaimed in relief, rushing over to the hawk as if she planned to pull him into a hug, but then caught herself at the last second. "I-I was worried you were done for back then, when the roof collapsed, and you floated up into the air…not that I…well…"

Storm, however, didn't show as much restraint, and promptly grabbed Jet in a bear hug, weighing the hovering hawk to the ground for a moment. "Glad to see you're safe, boss!"

"Obviously, everything worked out in the end, then," Tails surmised, standing beside Sonic.

"You bet it did, Tails," Sonic remarked with a grin, and chuckled. "Eggman wasn't expecting us to do that at all, much else even see _me_. Ha, you should've seen his face when I busted into his airship!"

"But that was still a risky move, and it nearly ended badly for all of us!" Wave objected, suddenly turning on the hedgehog. "Did you even stop to _consider_ the danger you were putting yourself in?"

"Danger? Ha! I laugh in the face of danger!" Sonic mocked.

Tails elbowed Wave. "I told you," he said with a grin of his own.


	7. Workshop Work

Gang gets ready to get to work. Brief reference to "Sonic The Fighters." if you're unfamiliar with that Sonic game, google it. :)

7.

Workshop Work

The group stuck around long enough to check up on the village and its inhabitants, to make sure Eggman hadn't done any lasting damage. And as luck would have it, he hadn't. No one was injured in the attack, and for the most part, minor damage was done to the village, none that couldn't be repaired. The worse of it really happened at the hotel, which the hotel's owner wasn't too happy about. But in the end, he did have to admit that he had been thinking about remodeling anyway. This just gave him the excuse he needed to do it.

So once they were all satisfied that the Apotos village would pull through well enough, their focus went back to departing for Tails's workshop in the Mystic Ruins, a flight that would be long, but uneventful (barring no attacks from a certain doctor, of course. But they were all fairly confident that Eggman wasn't likely to be back to do that for a little while). As the Babylon Rogue's Extreme Gear wouldn't get there in one go without stopping to recharge repeatedly (not helped by the fact that Eggman's attack cut short their recharging time) and short a board to boot, it was agreed that they would all go back on the Tornado.

Fitting them all on the little biplane took some thinking, however, as the plane was really only meant to fit two, three if you were skinny and didn't care for elbow room. Sonic quickly gave up his seat to instead ride the plane on top of the wings, stating that he hadn't done that in a while anyway. This freed up the second seat which Wave quickly claimed. But Storm wasn't about to fit in the seat with her, and none of the rouges really wanted to have to share anyway.

Their end solution was unorthodox, but worked anyway. They had Storm ride his Extreme Gear, but instead of having it fly under its own power, it was opted to have the Tornado tow it behind itself. As for Jet, seeing that he _still_ hadn't managed to get himself to land yet and seemed perfectly capable of flying for a while longer still, he was consigned to just fly alongside the Tornado as they flew for the workshop.

At first Jet wasn't really for this idea, nor was Wave, who again stated her wish to keep Jet grounded until they knew more about this new ability of his and where it came from. But once they were up in the air and had been flying along for a few minutes, Jet found himself enjoying himself thoroughly. The excitement with the battle with Eggman earlier that morning apparently being enough to wake up him properly (because he felt great now), Jet realized again just how impossible it was for him to do this, but in a different way from before. Instead, he embraced this idea, and was starting to consider himself extremely lucky to get the chance to even do this.

No wonder he had been secretly longing to do something like this for so long now.

He also wasn't entirely convinced that Sonic wasn't jealous of this ability like he claimed too, so he also liked the idea of being able to do something the hedgehog couldn't for a change.

It must have been obvious to the others just how much he was enjoying himself, because he noticed Sonic watching him from the Tornado flying beside him.

"You seem to be getting the hang of that now, Jet!" he called out loudly to the hawk so he could be heard over the drone of the Tornado's engine.

Jet nodded gleefully. "It's actually kind of like a dream come true, to be honest!" he confessed. "To _actually_ get to do something like this, after growing up for so long not thinking you ever would get to…" he trailed off, looking for a decent comparison. "It'd be like you growing up thinking you could never run as fast as you can until just discovering it by chance today, Sonic!"

Sonic blinked, and considered this thought for a moment, bending down to grip the edge of the wing he stood upon to steady himself in the process. "I never thought of it like that!" he admitted. "I guess I see your point, then! Though I think I would be terribly unhappy with life if that were really true, and I never ran as fast as I did for so long!"

Jet didn't say it, but he could relate to this thought, thinking back to the day before, when he had been sitting in his office, trying to fight off the powerful urge to throw himself off the airship and will himself to fly. If only he knew then what he knew now.

"Now we just need to figure out how to get you to turn it on and off at will!" Sonic remarked, changing the subject slightly.

Jet rolled his eyes, and nodded. "Tell me about it!" he replied. "That's probably the most annoying part about this, is the fact that I can't ever land or take off when I _want_ to!"

"Well, _something_ has to trigger it!" Sonic pointed out. "Any idea what it might be?"

"I think Wave was right when she said it was a subconscious trigger!" Jet remarked, having already given the matter some thought. "Probably some kind of unintentional thought I make is what turns it on and off! I just don't know what!"

"Let's think about it for a moment then!" Sonic proposed, needing something to do to pass the time anyway. "Think about all the times you _did_ get it to turn on! What was going through your head during those times?"

Jet sighed, already knowing the answer to this. "More often than not, I'd think that I was going to _die_ if nothing stopped me from falling!"

"Guess that would do it, wouldn't it? What about turning it off again, though? Any ideas there?"

Jet thought about it for a long moment. "Usually whenever it _really_ sinks in just how impossible it is for me to do this!" he stated, then added as the thought came to him, "Maybe that's why I've been having so much trouble turning it off now! I've come to terms with the fact that this clearly _is_ possible!"

"Maybe you should try to stop letting yourself think about it!" Sonic suggested.

It wasn't a great idea, but it was an idea, so Jet fell silent for a few moments and considered the matter. He stared down at the sea they were flying over and tried to let himself focus upon on the impossibilities of the matter. He believed he succeeded, but nothing happened. And anyway, he was starting not to care whether or not if it was actually impossible or not. He was rapidly growing to like this new ability of his in so many ways. But it would be better if he could actually turn it on or off on command. That was probably the only thing that was holding him back now. He stared down at the sea for a moment, though, and decided that given how high up he was at the moment, now probably wasn't a good time to try and find the trigger, because if he accidently shut off his flying power, he'd fall to his…

And with that thought, completely without warning, his power abruptly switched off, and Jet fell like a rock down towards the sea below. Staring at the rippling water rushing up towards him, Jet first focused on screaming, then realizing he could still save himself, turned his focus on turning his power back on.

"Switch on, switch on, switch on, switch on…" he pleaded again and again as he mentally sought the trigger.

Then, without warning, his fall was suddenly cut short as the power turned back on again as commanded. Heart pounding from the near-lethal fall, Jet slowly raised himself back up to where the Tornado was flying, and cruised along beside it once again. Panting, he stared down at the sea he nearly fell into, then over at the Tornado. Everyone inside it, even Tails, was looking at him with wide, surprised, eyes.

"I didn't mean try it right now!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I didn't mean to, honest!" Jet exclaimed back in his defense. "But at least I think I figured out what the trigger is to turn it on and off now!"

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"Simple, I just have to…"

He suddenly dropped right out of the air again as his power switched off again. A few seconds later, Jet had once again restored it, and was again hovering beside the Tornado, albeit with his nerves a little strained now.

"Well…" he began again, "Let's just say I figured it out for now!"

"Good enough for me!" Sonic replied, giving him the thumbs-up sign.

* * *

The flight continued on for a long while. Jet, gathering his nerves again and getting bored, decided to practice turning his new power on and off while in mid-flight again, and started purposely letting himself drop out of the sky, only to resume flying again after he had dropped several feet. After a little while, he started making a little game out of it, getting daring enough to let himself fall for a dangerously long time before finally pulling himself out, and adding little aerial tricks to it in the process. He quickly started to thoroughly enjoy himself and the ability.

The others kept an eye on him. Sonic seemed to enjoy watching Jet mess around with his powers, and got caught up with the euphoria of it too, even though he wasn't actually the one with the ability. Tails watched too, mostly to make sure Jet didn't do anything stupid that could get himself killed, but otherwise focused on flying the plane. Storm idly watched too, pleased that his boss was enjoying himself, and was figuring out his new ability.

The only one who wasn't pleased with this was Wave, who watched Jet fly with a very displeased look, clearly thinking that it wasn't a good idea for Jet to be doing this…

* * *

Finally, they arrived at the Mystic Ruins. Bringing in the Tornado low to the ground, Tails landed the biplane gently on the stretch of ground that jutted out from the shore serving as a runway. Jet followed the plane closely, and also brought himself for a landing. Now well practiced at turning his ability on and off, he was able to turn it off exactly when he wanted it too. But he still didn't land to well, stumbling on his feet a couple of paces as he landed a little faster than he intended, and finally fell to the ground.

Storm, who had unhooked himself and his Extreme Gear from the Tornado's tow line just before it landed so he could bring the board in for a landing under its own power, landed beside the hawk, and helped him up.

"You okay, boss?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah!" Jet said brightly, dusting himself off as he shook off the fall cheerfully, "Guess I just need to work a little on landing."

He then walked off for Tails's workshop a little wobbly, as he also realized that because he had been flying for so long in one stretch, his legs weren't entirely ready to switch right over to walking again, and were a little limp and tingly. Not entirely convinced of Jet's assurances to the contrary, Storm followed him, watching the hawk carefully in case he needed help. By this point in time, Tails had pulled the now idling Tornado into the workshop's lower floor, which served as a kind of garage. He parked it in the middle of the floor, where a large circle sat. Once the Tornado was parked, the circle started to turn like a turntable, and slowly turned the biplane back around to face out of the garage, ready for when it would take off again.

"Okay, we're here!" Tails announced, unbuckling himself from the pilot's seat. "Everybody out!"

He, Sonic, and wave started clambering out of the biplane. Tails stepped over to a control on the wall, and pressed a button that started to close the large sliding doors that had opened for the plane's entrance. Jet and Storm quickly slipped inside before these doors shut, and looked around inside the workshop.

Jet immediately noted a problem. "It's, uh, smaller than I was expecting," he commented. "I was under the impression that it'd be bigger. A _lot_ bigger."

"It is," Tails assured them as he now turned to unpacking their things from within the plane, handing Wave her Extreme Gear in the process, which she snatched back a little huffily.

"Yeah, boss, see?" Storm remarked, elbowing Jet in the ribs, and pointing over to a metal staircase that led up to the workshop's next floor. "That leads upstairs."

"I know that!" Jet snapped, having already seen that for himself.

"Storm, it was pretty clear from outside that the second floor of this place isn't much bigger than this part is," Wave pointed out as they silently followed Tails to a second staircase on the other side of the garage that led down into the ground. "Smaller, even. Nothing that'll be of use to us with our plans."

"Besides, Tails doesn't keep much work-related things up there, anyway," Sonic explained as he joined the group. "All that's up there is living quarters and a small observatory."

"Then I don't understand," Jet remarked as they followed the quiet Tails down the narrow staircase that only led to a pair of double doors that jutted off its bottom to one side. "You told us that there was going to be enough space here to build ourselves a new airship. And I'm seeing a notable lack of such space. This workshop of yours is nowhere _near_ big enough."

Tails merely rolled his eyes in good humor and didn't reply as he opened the doors and stepped into the dark room beyond.

"So unless you're expecting us to build it outside," Jet continued as he and the others continued to follow Tails into the dark room, "which if we were to do that by the way, we might as well call up Eggman now and tell him where we are because it'd be pretty obvious what's going on here, this place is just…too…small…"

He trailed off when Tails flipped on a light switch, turning on large lights that lit up a massive, underground, chamber, filled with all sorts of equipment, tools, and pet projects of Tails's. Both stunned and awestruck, all three rogues stopped in their tracks and stared in awe at the size and contents of the warehouse-like chamber. Even Wave, who was usually hypocritical of anything Tails did, was impressed with what she saw.

"Whoaaakay," Jet muttered in shock at the sight, "Forget what I just said."

Sonic and Tails, however, having seen the room several times before, idly kept walking on down the catwalk they stood upon and down the staircase to the chamber's floor.

"You sure this is going to be enough space for them, Tails?" Sonic asked his fox friend semi-sarcastically.

Tails grinned. "Well, if not, I'm sure we can make the necessary arrangements to fit them," he stated confidently.

"_Man_ this place is huge!" Jet remarked again, unable to get over this one fact. He nudged Wave. "This place is _infinitely_ better than that little closet of a lab you had on the airship!"

"Don't remind me," the swallow grumbled, feeling her ego bruise a little under that comment as they moved to join the others on the ground level of the room.

"Look, they even have a rocket in here!" Storm remarked, pointing.

"Whoa!" Jet exclaimed, following the albatross's gaze.

Hearing this, Tails looked up from the toolbox he had been unpacking and at the large, orange, and now dusty rocket. "Oh yeah, the Lunar Fox," he remarked dismissively. "I built that years ago to use to reach Eggman's then-new Death Egg II…and haven't used it since."

"I remember that!" Sonic added brightly, strolling over. "We were all fighting over who'd get to ride it, too!" he glanced back at Tails. "Why _did_ those fights break out anyway?"

Tails shrugged. "I forget, actually."

Jet glanced at the pair, a little surprised at their idle chitchat over the matter, and realized, really for the first time, just how much the two had _done_, especially to keep their fair little planet safe. Jet had always known they were pretty much the leading defense against things like Eggman, but now he was finding himself not only acknowledging just how much, and for how long, they've been doing this, but also finding himself appreciating what they did for really the first time ever. They really did _a lot_ to keep people safe and to stop Eggman…yet acted so calm and…dismissive about it, like it wasn't a big deal. It was just what they did for a living, and didn't really expect anything in return, nor seem to want anything. And here they were helping _them_, who they had never been on the best of terms with, like it was nothing.

Maybe these two weren't as bad as he first thought.

"You know, even with this place being as big as it is, more than big enough to build ourselves a new airship in," Wave pointed out suddenly, interrupting Jet's thoughts, "It's still going to take us _months_ to do it in."

"Not unless we got some kind of help from a really big bunch of people working together," Storm added.

"Like a workforce," Jet realized.

The large albatross nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed. "That would speed things up."

"I've got the next best thing," Tails remarked as he now moved to work at a console booting something up.

Something stirred within the room, and then mechanical arms dropped down from the roof and popped up the floor and readied themselves for work. The rogues back away from them at first, but then realized that the arms were to be used for building. Using them, building a new airship would go much faster.

Wave stated this aloud. "Using these, it'll take only about a week to rebuild the airship!" she exclaimed.

"Well then," Sonic remarked strolling up behind her and Jet, placing an arm each over their shoulders, "Shall we get to work then?"


	8. Testing

Another week, another chapter. Sets the scene for next chapter, after which I expect things are going to start being a little more faster paced.

8.

Testing

"Tails, these things aren't Eggman tech, are they?" Jet asked suddenly, the thought just now coming to him.

He realized this possibility while he and Storm worked with the mechanical construction arms to get started on building their new airship, and thought it was important enough a matter to bring up. He glanced over at Tails and Wave where they were working on more sciency things and waited for a response. Sonic had wandered off somewhere while they did this. According to Tails, this was a frequent occurrence.

"That obvious, huh?" Tails responded promptly and without alarm, nor even looking up from what he was doing. "I salvaged them from one of the old robot factories Eggman had abandoned over the years. Seemed like a waste of perfectly good technology, so I decided to put it to use."

A reasonable explanation, but now Jet had his reservations. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?" he asked. "What if Eggman had rigged some kind of booby trap in them or something like that?"

"I already checked for that, and to play it safe, completely wiped their programming and started over from scratch, as well as made a few other minor modifications to play it safe. Even removed the Eggman logo that was plastered on all of them. I'm fairly certain that covers all of the potential problems that could arise, don't you think?"

"Well, I don't know about that," Wave remarked as she worked beside Tails. She seemed annoyed about something but was trying to hide it. Jet guessed she was still feeling put out by the fact that Tails had a better workshop than she had. "If Eggman really wanted the tech you've stolen back, I'm sure he knows where to go to get it."

"I'd like to see him try to get at it," Tails argued proudly, "It may not look like it, but my workshop has defenses in place in the event such an instance ever occurred. Not that it ever has, thankfully, but it's nice to know that it's there, right?"

"Maybe, but I'd feel better knowing that it has actually been combat tested," Wave replied flatly.

"It's been combat tested!" Tails protested.

"Whoa, okay, no need to argue!" Jet said, quickly cutting short the approaching fight. "I got the answer I wanted! You can both go back to what you were doing now! And Wave, _chill_, will you?"

"I _am_ chill!" Wave replied hotly, as she turned away to work on something else.

Jet frowned before turning back to what he and Storm were doing. "Sheesh, what's eating her?"

Storm shrugged, and instead changed the subject. "Do you know how to work this thing, boss?" he asked, staring at the computer screen before them, and scratching his head in puzzlement.

Jet studied the screen for a moment. "Doesn't look too hard," he said. "As I see it, you just have to input the plans of whatever it is you want to build, and the machine does the rest."

"But we don't have any plans," Storm pointed out.

"So we'll make some," Jet replied curtly, sorting through the screen's options, before pointing. "Look, it's already got some default blueprints for an airship. We'll just take that, add on a few things we might need, and call it done." He selected that option from the menu. "See? It lets us customize it. We can adjust the cabin size, add weapons, add engine power, and so on. It'll be pretty easy to recreate our old airship. We could even make a few upgrades while we're at it." He turned back to Wave. "Hey, Wave, you want a bigger lab?"

"_You're_ the boss, Jet, it's _your_ call to make!" Wave called back.

Jet rolled his eyes. "Just for that, I'm going to give her a smaller lab, and use the extra room to add in a game room," he remarked, adding in the necessary specifications, before going to add others. "Now let's see, we've got room for all three of us, a guest room, a dining room, an office for me, an expanded bridge, a few extra cannons, a bit more engine power…maybe a few more extra cannons…and there. I think that'll do it. What do you think, Storm?"

The albatross gave him the thumbs up sign. "Looks good to me, boss."

"All right, then," Jet said, scanning the keyboard in front of him for the right key, "We'll just press start then."

Finding the button labeled "start," he pressed it without hesitation, and watched as the mechanical arms promptly started moving, grabbing the supplies materials they needed and started shaping them and fitting them together. Jet and Storm watched the arms work for a few moments.

"So, now what?" Storm finally asked after a few moments.

"Now we sit back and watch the machine do all the work for us," Jet remarked with a grin.

So with that, the two sought out a pair of lawn chairs that happened to be nearby, and sat down in them, leaning back idly and watching the machine work.

* * *

But while Storm and Jet were busy _not_ working, Tails and Wave were hard at work, already working on some theories that could possibly explain how Jet's new flight ability worked and where it came from. Tails, having come up with a possible theory on the way here, quickly got to work running a few computerized simulations to see how liable his theory was, and if it'd be worth their time to do more detailed tests. But the results he got back were pitifully unhelpful and disproving. That theory shot down, Tails sighed, and thought about what to try next.

He glanced over at Wave. "Hey Wave, did you run that spectral analysis?" he asked politely.

"_Yes_, I ran the spectral analysis, and it turned up negative, too!" Wave barked back as she worked at a device angrily.

"Okay, so it was negative!" Tails cried back, surprised by the outburst. He was silent for a moment, going back to his own work, but then ended up glancing back at Wave. "Is something bugging you, Wave?"

"No!" Wave snapped, "It's just…I uploaded those scans of Jet you took back at the hotel and uploaded into your computer systems here, hoping that the added computing power would see something your handheld didn't, but all it did was spit back out the same results, which tells us _nothing_!" She slapped the device she was working on hard in frustration. "I need more to work with, darn it! And nothing here is giving me it!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on here!" Tails remarked, hurrying over. "Calm down, Wave! We've only just begun! You of all people should understand that this can be a slow process, with the answers being hard to find! You have to be patient! And beating my equipment isn't going to speed things up any, either."

"Yeah, well…!" Wave began, turning on Tails, but then seeing the young fox's face, trailed off, her anger softening. She sighed. "I know," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I just…I don't know." She glanced over at where Jet sat with Storm, watching the construction machine work. "It's probably nothing, but…something about Jet's new ability unnerves me."

Tails grinned a little. "I know what you mean," he remarked, "Suddenly discovering that one of your best friends suddenly has a new ability that you don't know how it works _is_ a little unnerving."

"No, that's not what I mean," Wave corrected. "There's something about that…_power_… of his that doesn't sit right with me. Like there's some dark aspect of it that is just waiting to rear its ugly head. That there's some latent aspect of it that's going to cause harm for someone…like Jet himself."

Tails was silent for a moment, then placed a comforting hand on Wave's shoulder. "We don't have any evidence to support that, you know," he pointed out calmly.

"I know, that's what's frustrating," Wave agreed. "It's an _unfounded_ fear. Yet, it's there anyway, and I can't shake it. My instinct is telling me to listen to it." She glanced at Tails. "But how can we know if it's even right?"

"Let's find out," Tails replied.

* * *

So they grabbed Jet, and got him reluctantly to stand inside a large metal box Tails typically used for containing and scanning large objects. Jet looked around inside it, clearly not entirely happy about this, as he didn't like being the subject of tests.

"Are you two sure about this?" he said from inside the box, a sound system rebroadcasting his voice outside the box so the others could hear, peering out the medium sized window in the side of the box at Tails and Wave. "What if something goes wrong and I can't get out?"

"Nothing should go wrong, Jet," Wave promised as she and Tails worked behind a console. "We're just doing some scans, like before, at the hotel. These are just going to be a bit more powerful than before."

"Couldn't that give me cancer or something?" Jet complained.

Tails had to chuckle like this. "The scans will be completely harmless, Jet," he assured him. "All the energies we'll use won't even interact physically with your body. You won't feel a thing, and absolutely no harm will come to you. It's just going to give us a better idea of what's going on in and around you when you use your powers. It might give us the clues we need to figure out how it works. I just need you to keep still, and to do what we ask."

Jet sighed. "All right, let's just get it over with."

"Initiating scans now, then," Wave announced as she began switching on the scanners that lined the outside of the box.

Tails brought up the scans on a monitor and looked them over. "Everything seems to be in order," he remarked. "Jet seems to be in excellent physical shape. His heart-rate's normal, his breathing is normal, his metabolism is still heightened a little, but nothing to be alarmed about. Probably just due to the excitement we've all seen today."

"Makes sense, I'm seeing heightened adrenaline levels in his bloodstream too," Wave said, glancing over Tails shoulder at the screen. "Looks like he just hasn't calmed down from all the excitement yet, I guess." She noticed something else and grinned. "Hey Jet, you wouldn't happen to be hungry, would you?"

"Yeah, actually, in fact my stomach just rumbled," Jet confessed, placing a hand on his front.

"I know," Wave remarked dismissively.

"What do you mean you know?"

"Well, these scans actually tell us quite a bit about your body and what it's doing at any given moment."

Jet wasn't sure he liked the sound of this. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Tails, however, was ready to move on to other things. "Okay Jet," he announced, "I've got the scanners properly calibrated. Let's go ahead and turn on your flight power, and see what we pick up."

Jet sighed, and nodded, and practiced enough at it now to do without any delay, promptly switched the power on and started hovering within the box he was in. Wave and Tails turned back to their scans to see if they were reading anything different from what they had been getting before. There wasn't much.

"Well, his metabolism is spiking again," Wave noted with a sigh, "But we already knew that was going to happen."

"He's just burning through his energy supplies faster than before is all, really. All that really means is that he's going to get hungry more often, that and probably exhaust himself sooner or later." Tails noted, and pondered that for a moment. "Jet, have you gotten tired while using your powers?"

Jet thought about it for a moment. "No…not that I can think of," he admitted. "Maybe I just haven't been using them long enough. I feel fine and wide awake now."

This made Wave realize something. "But you were dead tired this morning," she pointed out. "And you never _did_ get enough sleep to catch up. So why aren't you still feeling that?"

Jet shrugged. "Maybe I just shook it off and woke up," he remarked.

"His metabolism isn't the only thing that's spiked," Tails realized suddenly, checking the scans some more. "So have his adrenaline levels, his ghrelin levels, his thyroxine levels, his peptide levels…basically his whole endocrine system has spiked in activity."

"In English, please!" Jet exclaimed.

"It means that your body is more or less spiking the activity of certain processes," Wave explained, "For instance, you're probably feeling a heightened since of excitement now that you're flying."

"And enjoyment," Tails added suddenly, still studying the readouts, "There's a spike there, too."

Jet realized they were right. "Hey, yeah!" he exclaimed. "I do get a lot enjoyment out of this flying ability, especially now that I've started to master it. In fact, the timing is perfect, because before I discovered this, I was longing…" but he trailed off, realizing what he was about to say, and then opted not to finish that thought. Wave and Tails didn't seem to notice.

"Now check this out," Tails continued, pointing at the screen, directing Wave's attention back to it. "Look, Jet's brain activity has also risen in certain portions of his brain, namely in areas of sense perception and the processing of new information."

"Why?" Wave inquired, puzzled. "To have better agility and response time while flying?"

"Maybe," Tails remarked, rubbing at his chin, "But it's hard to say with the information we've got at the moment." He shook his head, "And all this really tells us is what the effects of this flight ability are on his body, but tells us little about how it actually _works_." He thought for a moment, then started working the settings for the sensors. "I'm going to try adjusting the detection range for the energy scanners," he explained, "Maybe if we heighten their sensitivity, they might pick up something we haven't before."

He started twisting a knob slowly, watching the readouts on the screen carefully. For several long moments, there was no real change, except in obtaining better preciseness of some of the readings they had already been getting. Then, suddenly, the system started detecting an energy it couldn't identify, the levels of this new energy spiking highly.

"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed, releasing the knob and studying these new readings, "That could it right there!"

"It's _got_ to be it!" Wave agreed, "It's the only energy we've detected that could possibly explain this."

"What _are_ you seeing?" Jet asked, who of course could not see the readouts from where he was.

"You seem to be producing a barely detectable aura of energy when you fly, Jet," Tails explained, "At these sensitivity levels, of course, the accuracy of the scans start to drop, so it could be anything, but for the moment, it seems likely."

"There's one way to check," Wave deduced, "Jet, turn off your power again.

Jet promptly obeyed. On the readouts, the mysterious new energy they were detecting slacked off significantly.

"It's definitely connected," Wave deduced, pleased they were finally getting somewhere.

So was Tails. "It gives us a place to work," he agreed, and started right to it, Wave joining him.

"I'm back!" Sonic suddenly called out as he jumped down the steps of the catwalk two at a time and into the massive workroom, carrying some brown paper bags. "And I brought back lunch! Anybody want some?"

"Ooh, I do!" Jet promptly exclaimed, pressing himself against the glass of the box he was still in. "I'm hungry! What do you have?"

"Um, let's see, I have chili dogs, fries, soda, and uh, more chili dogs," Sonic remarked, glancing in the bag as he set them on a table before calling out again, "Who wants some?"

"Later, Sonic, we're busy," Tails remarked as he and Wave were hard at work.

"All right, more for me," Sonic remarked as he opened the door to the box Jet was in, letting the hawk out, "How about you, Jet? Want a chili dog?"

"Can I get it without the chili?" Jet asked, not really interested in chili dogs.

"Of course not, Jet," Sonic replied, handing him a chili dog anyway, "It wouldn't be a chili dog that way! C'mon, I would've thought that this would be obvious!"


	9. The Power Of Flight

Slightly longer chapter than usual. Mostly characterization, but it's all fairly relevant stuff nonetheless. The events from "Flight" are briefly summarized again. And the scene is set for future chapters. ;)

9.

The Power Of Flight

While the others ate, Wave and Tails worked at analyzing the new information they had obtained, working out new theories and the such. They came up with a couple they wanted to test, so after lunch, Wave and Tails pulled the reluctant Jet aside to run a few more, but it ended up in vain, and they didn't learn anything new. So they went back to analyzing their data, this time wanting to look at it more thoroughly before they went back to testing theories.

It was very boring for the others. Since the construction of the new airship was pretty going along all under its own power now, leaving Jet, Sonic, and Storm with nothing else to do, they worked at coming up with other means to entertain themselves. When Jet found the stash of video games Sonic and Tails had, the blue hedgehog naturally challenged the hawk to a game. Jet, of course, refused to turn down the challenge. Storm was invited to join in, but not always being the best at video games, opted not to, and instead headed outside to practice fighting moves. Wave and Tails didn't complain, as this meant the three would be out of their way.

The hours passed, and soon night fell, and before they all knew it, it was several hours after dark. Wave and Tails were still at it, but now they had moved upstairs to get a late dinner, seeing they had never gotten any lunch in the end and were understandably hungry. Not wanting to stop, though, they took their work with them on portable computers so to keep going while they ate.

Which was what Wave was diligently doing, and was showing no sign of stopping. Tails, however, was getting ready for a break.

He yawned as he placed some leftovers in the microwave of the workshop's small kitchen. "It's been a long day," he remarked aloud as he stretched his arms, and trying to blink away the sleep that was slowly creeping up on him.

Wave didn't respond as she kept her eyes focused on the portable computer she had lying on the tabletop while she blindly stabbed her fork into her meal and brought it up to her beak to chew.

Tails glanced at her for a moment as he set the time on the microwave, and felt the need to spur up some conversation. Despite having been working together for the better part of the day, the two had spoken little.

"You know, this is kind of nice, actually," he remarked.

"What is?" Wave responded, half-listening.

"Us working together for a change," Tails explained, watching the microwave hum as it heated his meal. "I mean, you, me, and the others are all usually at each other throats any other day of the year. But now we've kind of set it all aside and are working together for a change. Even Jet and Sonic stopped quarrelling with each. Sort of. I guess they are still leading each other on, but still…"

"Mm," Wave grunted, focusing more on her work.

"And there's us two," Tails continued, "I think it's great that instead of constantly trying to outdo the other, we're actually working together on a project, putting our heads together, like the scientists-slash-engineers we are."

"Don't seem to be making any progress, though," the swallow grumbled in response to that.

Tails was silent for a moment, fiddling with his fingers. He understood how focused Wave was on this and why. "I've been working on some theories that could explain how Jet is able to fly like he is," he explained, changing the subject.

"And?" Wave asked, glancing up suddenly.

The microwave beeped, declaring it was done. Tails pulled his meal out as he sighed. "I haven't made much progress," he confessed. "I mean, sometimes the theories seem to fit perfectly…until I dig deeper and find one major difference that prevents it from working." He sighed again. "I don't suppose you've made any better progress?"

Wave looked at the portable computer before her for a moment, debating, before she replied. "I'm not sure," she confessed. "I've been working on something different. Come over and look at this."

Tails wandered over, taking his food with. Wave showed him her portable. On it, it showed the scans of Jet and the aura of energy they discovered he produced when using his flying power.

"I had gathered all the data together and was sorting through it, looking for clues, when I noticed something peculiar," Wave explained, and pointed at the scan. "This is the most recent scan we took of Jet while he was using his power. And as we already know, despite the aura of energy and the heightened activity of his endocrine system, it doesn't tell us much."

"No, it doesn't," Tails agreed.

"But now look at this," Wave said, bringing up another scan beside the first. "This is the scan we took at lunchtime, when we discovered the aura. Note any differences?"

Tails studied the two scans. It took him a moment before he made the connection suddenly.

"The energy levels in the auras aren't the same," he realized in surprise.

Wave nodded, and pointed to the first scan she showed him. "This one is greater by roughly five percent. The magnitude of the aura grew in-between scans."

Tails furrowed his brow as he thought about this. "That's odd," he commented, "Might it be a mere fluctuation in the levels? Sometimes it's higher than at other times under the right circumstances?"

"That's what I thought at first, too," Wave agreed, "So to double check, I went back to the original scans we took of Jet back at the hotel, running them through your computer system to see if it could show me if the aura had been detected, and if so, to show me. Turns out it did. And this is what it showed me."

She pulled up the scan, and it showed the aura significantly smaller than what it was in later scans. Tails blinked in surprise, and was silent for a moment as he digested this information.

"Maybe, because the scanner I was using was under powered to detect the aura originally, it didn't get a clear reading," the fox suggested after a moment.

"I already thought of that," Wave said, "And I ran through a few calculations. According to my math, these readings should still be at least seventy-five percent accurate."

She showed him her math. Tails reviewed it quickly. It indeed checked out.

"But then that means the energy output this aura Jet creates has been getting stronger as more and more time goes by," Tails realized.

Wave nodded. "It seems to be doing it exponentially," she said, "And I don't know if it's going to stop anytime soon, either. To be honest, it worries me what might happen if this continues."

Tails nodded in agreement. "If only we knew more about what this energy is, and what it does," he remarked. "Maybe then we could have a better understanding about…well…_everything_ about this matter."

Wave shrugged, clearly frustrated by this. "I've done some studying of it, but all I can figure out is this energy seems to not only provide the power for Jet's flight ability, but also seems to be some kind of life energy."

"Life energy?"

"That's the best way I can think of to describe it. It's kind of hard to explain it exactly, but it seems to blend in with the natural energy Jet's body produces, like it's a part of it now."

"Like Hyper-Go-On energy."

Wave gave Tails a puzzled look at this, who blushed a little, realizing that Wave wouldn't know what that was.

"Sorry, never mind," he said instead, "Just know that I know what you're talking about."

Wave just shook her head and sighed. "Point is that we aren't really going anywhere with this," she muttered. "This is taking far longer than I had hoped. And I worry that the longer this takes, the worse it's going to get."

"Worse?" Tails repeated then promptly realized what Wave was getting at. "You're still worried about the unknowns of Jet's power, aren't you?"

Wave nodded solemnly. "I wish he'd _see_ that, too!" she grumbled. "But I don't think Jet realizes the dangers this power of his could have, particularly due to the fact that he only _partially _knows how to control it! And his blind experimentation with the power could get him hurt! Remember when we were flying here, and how he was turning it on and off in mid-flight? What if he failed to turn it back on in time?"

Tails sighed. "Well first, I feel I should point out that we still have no real evidence that any harm is going to come to anybody from this power of Jet's," he said, "But I understand your source for concern. Giving what we've been uncovering, it probably would be better if he'd stop using the power at least until we know more about it. Which is why I didn't object to them playing games earlier, because it kept both him _and_ Sonic still and entertained."

"True, but that's not going to work forever. Like Sonic, Jet doesn't like staying in one spot for too long. He's fine now, but he's going to get stir-crazy before long. And then what?"

"Well, have you told him how you feel about this?" Tails asked innocently. When Wave didn't respond, hinting that she hadn't, he continued. "You keep saying that Jet could be endangering himself by using these powers without fully understanding him, but how can you expect him to not to if he doesn't realize it?"

* * *

So Wave decided to tell him.

Taking the portable computer with her, she wandered downstairs into the massive work-cavern and looked around. It was fairly quiet in the room at the moment, with some of the ceiling lights turned off, dimming the room. The machines building the new airship-to-be had been turned off for the night. Storm, having borrowed a sleeping bag, was asleep on the floor, snoring. On a couch nearby, Sonic had also crashed for the night, and looked to be soundly asleep.

Jet was also in the room, but unlike his compatriots, he seemed to be awake. At most, he was sitting up. Wave wasn't entirely sure _what_ the hawk was doing, at least until she grew close as she started down the staircase to the cavern floor.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she grumbled when she finally understood.

Jet was in a sitting position, all right, sitting cross-legged with his arms outstretched and his head titled slightly upwards with his eyes closed, making a faint humming sound. He looked like he was trying to meditate, something Wave had never seen Jet bother to try and do before. But ordinarily she wouldn't have found anything wrong with it…if it wasn't for the fact that Jet wasn't also hovering about a foot off the ground.

Hearing Wave's grumbling, Jet opened one eye to look in her direction, and grinned childishly. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"No, it's as dorky as…"

"Believe it or not, it's actually pretty relaxing," Jet continued cheerfully, interrupting. He seemed to be in a good mood. "Let's my mind wander. I've been finding myself thinking about things I've never took the time to even acknowledge before. Like…how much texture air has. You ever noticed that? You spend most of your time not even thinking about it being there, but when you really think about it, it has a lot of influence on you. You can literally _feel _its presence rubbing against you. So soft, and…" he sighed, grinning with pleasure of the thought. "It's really kind of indescribable when you get down to it."

Wave was a bit taken aback. "That's surprisingly…deep…for you."

Jet just shrugged. "I've also been thinking about things that have been forever puzzling me, and figuring out explanations for them," he continued, adjusting his hovering so that he faced Wave. "Like, why _is_ the sky blue?"

"It's because the air particles tend to reflect blue light," Wave explained monotonously and without hesitation.

"Oh, I know."

"I…honestly didn't think you did, Jet."

"Well, I didn't used to, but it was one of the things I figured out while I've been sitting here, hovering. When you think about how you get all the other colors in the world, it actually is kind of obvious."

"I'm surprised you know _anything _about any of that, actually."

Jet gave Wave an annoyed look. "I'm not _totally_ helpless in the field of science, Wave," he pointed out.

Wave couldn't come up with a comeback to that. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Couldn't sleep," Jet admitted, "My mind feels like it's going a mile a minute with everything that's happened today. Can you blame me for feeling excited?"

"I would think you'd be feeling tired after today, actually," Wave confessed, taking the portable computer she carried and starting to discreetly run some scans on Jet.

"I know, but I guess I'm just too excited," Jet confessed. "I mean, this power of mine is pretty cool once you get over the initial shock of suddenly having it. And what's especially exciting is getting the chance to figure out how it all works. Me and Sonic got to talking earlier about how fast I could possibly fly with this power, and since I wasn't sure, we decided we're going to find out tomorrow morning in a race."

"I'm not so sure that's such a good idea, Jet," Wave remarked as she studied her scans. Jet's body was showing the usual signs of exhaustion, but Jet didn't seem to be feeling it, due to suspiciously low levels of melatonin and serotonin, the hormones controlling drowsiness and sleep, in his system.

"And why not?" Jet inquired, glancing in her direction. He saw that she was working with the portable computer as she listened, and put two with two. "Are you scanning me again?"

Wave glanced up from the portable computer. "Yes," she admitted.

Jet sighed, and turned off his flight power and landed, turning to confront her. "Haven't you gotten enough scans yet? Can't you at least call it a night, anyway? I'm getting sick and tired of all these scans!"

"Jet, the more we learn about your flight power, the more it becomes clear that there could be complications from it!" Wave persisted. "That's part of what I came down here to talk to you about!" she brought up the scans she had showed Tails, "Look at these scans! They clearly show that…"

"Wave, are you saying that me having the power of flight might actually be a _bad_ thing?" Jet interrupted, pushing the portable computer aside so to look at Wave.

Wave nodded. "Yes, I am. And I want you to stop using your powers at least until we have a better idea how they work."

"What? Why?" Jet asked, not understanding. "How could these powers be bad? Need I remind you how many times these powers have saved my life in the past day _alone_, much less _your _life?"

"No, you don't, I understand entirely that it's been helpful in those urgent situations," Wave immediately agreed. "I'm not denying that. It's just…" she shook her head. "Please try to understand this, Jet, but I just can't shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong with these powers of yours. We don't know how they function, and you barely understand how to control them, and…"

"I beg to differ, I do _to_ know how to control them!" Jet said, and promptly activated the powers, rising off the floor, rotating his whole body in a pivot to demonstrate. "I've been practicing, you know!"

"Jet, get down from there _now_!" Wave snapped angrily.

It came out louder and harsher than she intended. Sonic snorted as her shout disturbed his sleep and he rolled over to settle back in again, unaware of the argument. Jet looked at Wave in surprise, not expecting quite an outburst like that, then promptly landed.

"Sorry," he muttered apologetically.

Wave felt her anger lessen. "No…no I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled," she confessed. "It's just…I don't know. My nerves have been stretched to the breaking point by all of this, and something really _doesn't_ sit well with me about your powers. I…I don't really know what. It just…does. And you not taking it seriously bugs me, I guess."

Jet was silent for a moment. "I suppose I can understand that," he admitted. "But…think about what it's like for _me_. For me, this is probably one of _the_ coolest things that has ever happened to me! It's…it's everything I've ever wanted! I can't tell you how long I've…" he trailed off, unsure Wave would understand.

But now Wave was curious. "How long you've what?" she inquired.

Jet sighed. "…How long I've wanted this, Wave."

Wave blinked in surprise. "_Wanted _this?"

Jet bowed his head, looking a little ashamed. "Yeah, I've wanted something like this for as long as I can remember. But for most of my life, I didn't understand what it was. I wanted _something_, but I couldn't figure out what." He paused. "That is…until we were on our way for Apotos for the race a few days ago. Remember? When you flew us into that bad storm that nearly sank our airship?"

Wave frowned at the blame-pinning comment, but nodded.

"Well, at the time I was in a bad mood, one of those moods where you're grumpy over something, but aren't entirely sure what, you know? And I was pondering what it was that was bugging me when me and Storm went out on top the airship to patch that hole when we got struck by lightning. Wasn't really getting anywhere with it until Storm fell off the side of the airship and was left dangling there alongside the airship. When I was moving down to try and help him, I nearly slipped and fell myself. And it was then, when I was balanced there on the sloping side of the airship, with nothing past it but air, that I realized what it was that was bugging me."

"You wanted to fly." Wave said it a little flatly, not sounding entirely pleased, but Jet was just happy she was still following with him.

"I wanted to fly," he repeated in confirmation, nodding. "Exactly how this power enables me to do it now. And I guess I got so caught up with the idea of it that, without even really thinking about it, I threw myself off the edge of the airship to try and fly like I wanted…but as you already know, it didn't work, and I ended up hanging upside down beside Storm until you found us like that later."

He expected Wave to laugh or something at this point, because when she had discovered Storm and Jet like that on the day in question, she had a massive laughing fit, and reminder of the event always got her to giggle. But now she was deadly silent, and seemed lost in thought. She was clearly not amused today.

"Jet, do you realize how much of a danger that was?" she finally asked. "If you hadn't been wearing your safety harness when you jumped so recklessly off the side of the airship like that…"

"But I _was_," Jet pointed out. "And even if I wasn't, how do we know my new power wouldn't have kicked in and saved me, like it did when I discovered it? I mean, how do we know that I didn't have it then, it just hadn't manifested itself? What if I've really had the power all this time, I just never knew it?"

"I can't answer any of those questions, Jet," Wave admitted. "But my point is that your reckless act of trying to get what you wanted could have gotten you killed! It was stupid of you to even try it!"

"Oh, I know it, I saw that the moment I started falling instead of flying!" Jet assured her. "And I was so embarrassed afterward that I told myself that I was never going to try and silly stunt like that again. But it was too late. I had given myself a taste of what I wanted, even if it was just as small one, and then the temptation to try again wouldn't leave me alone. And the more time that passed, the worse it got. I _had_ to try again, Wave. If Eggman's attack hadn't taken place when it had and made me discover my flight power when I had, I _would've_ tried that stunt again, and I probably _wouldn't_ have been wearing a safety harness that time."

Wave fell silent again for a few moments to process this. Jet watched her think, wondering what she thought.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" she asked finally. "When both Storm and I asked you why you ended up dangling over the edge of the airship too, you lied and told us you simply slipped, even when Storm said otherwise, because he _saw_ you jump. And then you said nothing about what you were going through later. So why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I didn't think you'd understand," Jet replied. "I _still_ don't think you understand even now just how much of a big deal this is for me."

Wave thought about it for a moment. "No, I suppose I _don't_ understand," she admitted. "I can see how this power would be…intriguing…at first, but…if I was you, and someone told me to be careful…"

"But that's exactly it, Wave!" Jet persisted. "I'm _not_ you! You could live the most boring life known to man just so long as you had your science, but I have to live things to the fullest! And this power gives me the means to do it!"

"But the danger…" Wave started to protest.

"You can't prove there _is_ a danger!" Jet pointed out, "Which is yet another difference between me and you! You would be more than happy to not do something until you were certain there wouldn't be a danger, but I'm willing to face the risks! Besides, you think this power is something to fear, but _I_ think I was _meant_ to have this power! I think it was my destiny to have this power, and to make use of it however I saw fit, too!" He looked at Wave hard and long for a moment. "But you don't understand that, do you? You don't think this through those terms, do you?" When Wave innocently and regrettably shook her head, Jet ran a hand through his green feathers as he looked around the cavernous workhouse. "Well, I don't have any way of getting you to understand, then."

He paused suddenly when his eyes locked on something across the room, and idea starting to form. "Except to show you."

"Show me?" Wave repeated as she watched Jet move across the room quickly.

"Yeah, c'mere, I have an idea," Jet said as he stepped up to a small control panel that stood at the far end of the room, and after studying it for a moment, pressed a button.

A pair of massive, hanger doors that stood along that wall of the cavern, closing off a small tunnel that led back outside, started to slide open. Wave wandered over, wondering where Jet was going with this. After the doors had opened a couple feet, though, not even halfway, Jet pressed the button again and stopped the doors from opening further.

He turned to Wave, and saw she still carried the portable computer. "Don't bring that," he instructed, and grabbed the device and chucked it onto a table nearby.

"Jet!" Wave hissed as she flinched when the device bounced roughly onto the worktable, but it wasn't damaged. She turned to the hawk. "Where are you going with this?"

"Do you trust me?" Jet asked, stepping towards her.

Wave hesitated, puzzled. "Jet…"

"_Do you trust me_?"

"Well…of course…"

"Good, then just leave this to me," Jet said, and to Wave's surprise and mild discomfort, he grabbed her around the middle.

"Jet, what are you…?" Wave began to demand, but the moment she felt her feet lift off the ground, she figured out what it was Jet was planning to do. "Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, Jet this is NOT a good idea!"

Jet did not respond as he hovered around the cavern while carrying Wave, and flew on out the doors he had opened, and down the short tunnel beyond. Wave latched onto Jet tightly as he did this, watching the ground slide away beneath them, until it suddenly dropped away in the shape of a cliff and shot down several feet until it joined with the sea below. Wave gasped, and tightened her grip on Jet. Jet grunted in protest, but otherwise was silent. He continued hovering out to sea for several more feet, leaving Tail's workshop behind.

"Jet, what do you hope to gain from this?" Wave repeated.

"To show you what this feels like," Jet replied.

And then he suddenly shot out a lot faster, leaving the coast behind them. Wave inhaled sharply at the sudden increase in speed, and only grew more frightened.

At first.

But after a few moments, Wave began to slowly find herself adjusting to it. She didn't want to at first, but it sort of happened anyway. Slowly, she started to relax and loosened her grip on Jet a little. Jet noticed and glanced at her, wearing the confident look he usually wore when he knew he was winning an argument with her.

"Want me to slow down?" he asked.

Wave hesitated. "Only if you want to," she replied, avoiding a direct answer.

Jet smirked a little. He did not adjust his speed.

They continued on for a while, with Wave's grip on the hawk loosening little by little, until it was really Jet that was holding onto her. Seeing she was starting to warm up to the idea of flying like this now, Jet decided to pull a gutsy move. Holding tightly onto Wave's left hand, he let go of Wave's right. Startled, and not gripping Jet as tightly as she had initially, the swallow swung outward until she was splayed out in a spreadeagle position beside him. Jet was still doing all the flying, but due to his momentum, now it felt like Wave was flying under her own power too. At first the swallow was panicked by this, but once she had realized she was in no danger of falling so long as Jet held onto her hand, she again started to relax, and was soon enjoying the flight as well. A broad grin appeared on her face as she let out a pleased chuckle. Jet grinned as well.

"Now check this out," Jet said as he suddenly came to a stop, pulling Wave close to him and grabbing her around the middle again before he shot straight up.

After a brief moment of surging upward, they shot into a cloud, and were soon bursting out the other side. Jet slowed to a stop to hover over the cloud, and looked at Wave. Wave had at first squeezed her eyes shut due to the sudden change of direction alarming her, but like before, she slowly began to relax and started looking around, looking down at the cloud they hovered over, then down at the dark sea below them, then up at the unmoving stars in the sky, before looking around at the partly-cloudy covering around them. Looking back behind her, she saw the coast, Tails little workshop already gone from sight. In fact, a lot of the details of the Mystic Ruins were already lost from sight due to their distance and the darkness of night. But further south, a faint glow could be seen on the horizon from Station Square, lighting up the sky a little.

It was actually a pretty sight. Wave couldn't help but be impressed.

"Okay, I have to admit," she finally confessed, looking at Jet. "This is pretty…" she paused to look for the right word, "…exhilarating."

"Wave, I appreciate your concern for me," Jet told her sincerely. "Really, I do. If you weren't there looking out for me, I probably would've killed myself doing something stupid years ago. But just know that sometimes, I need to look after myself, especially when I'm more than capable of doing so. This is one of those times."

Wave nodded, understanding. "I suppose I _should_ respect that," she admitted. "It's just…" she shook her head. "I'd hate to see something happen to you, Jet."

Jet looked at her in mild surprise. "And why is that?"

"Because you're our leader. You may not always make the smartest choices at times, but you're the only one of us Babylon Rogues who has the nerve and gumption to not only make those hard choices, but to make those hard choices _quickly_. Like when our airship got shot down the other day. You had a plan instantly, when I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that it seemed likely we were all about to…well…_die_."

"I'm not about to let that ever happen to you _or_ Storm," Jet assured her. "I like both of you too much."

"Well good, because we like you too much too," Wave replied. "Besides, Storm would probably get lost if you weren't around to lead him." She hesitated, and realized that wasn't entirely true. "Heck, _I'd_ feel lost if you weren't there."

Jet looked at her for a moment then gave her a comforting grin. Wave returned it, and then wrapped her arms around Jet in an unexpected hug. Jet hesitated a moment, then gingerly returned it.

"Just promise me that you act smart if I promise to back off and let you and your new power be," Wave pressed.

"I will, I promise," Jet vowed. "If anything at all goes wrong, you will be the _first_ to know."

Wave nodded in understanding. They remained like that for a long while, before Jet finally decided that as much as they might want to, they couldn't stay like this forever.

"It's, uh, getting late," the hawk remarked. "We probably shouldn't…"

"Yeah, you're right," Wave agreed, nodding in agreement, pulling out the hug a little into a position that was more of just holding onto Jet than a hug. "We should be heading back."

* * *

They promptly flew back to Tails's workshop, finding everything as they had left it. Jet gradually slipped back into the workroom cavern through its hanger doors, and landed, setting Wave down gently in the process. They stood around a little awkwardly for a few moments, unsure how to go about business now. In this moment of awkward silence, Jet pressed the button to close the hanger doors again, watching as the doors creakily shut, feeling like he shouldn't be focusing so much of his attention on Wave.

"Well," Wave finally began, and started to head for the cavern's exit, "I'm, uh, going to see if Tails has another sleeping bag I can use."

"Okay," Jet replied.

"You should get some sleep too."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Jet?"

"Hmm?"

Wave looked at him for a moment, and grinned. "Thank you."

Jet returned the grin. "You're welcome."


	10. Speed

This chapter went on a little longer than I expected, so I cut what I had planned for it a little short to save for the next chapter. But I think this chapter should be enough to reveal that things should be getting pretty...interesting pretty fast. ;) I expect the pace of the story will also start picking up significantly as we start getting into the major conflict...:)

10.

Speed

The next morning began at Tails's Workshop with everyone waking up and gathering in the kitchen for a simple breakfast. It was a very quiet and solemn affair. Due to staying up as late as they did, Tails and Wave were both very groggy and not entirely awake. Storm, not being a morning person, was also groggy. Sonic was awake, but he seemed oddly solemn himself, for he sat calmly and still as he poked at his food. Jet, however, was the one exception, as he was wide awake, cheerful, and anxious to get going with the day's activities, despite having also been up late. But he and Wave avoided much interaction, still feeling awkward about last night's events.

They said little. Apparently they all had little to say.

Once breakfast was over, it was back to work like before. The construction machines in the cavernous workroom was restarted and was set back to work at continuing to rebuild the Babylon Rouge's lost airship. Tails and Wave went back to their studies and experiments, still searching for answers about Jet's mysterious powers, but weren't any closer to getting them than they were the night before. Storm went outside to preoccupy himself, while Jet and Sonic also left to have the race they talked about yesterday.

On the latter point, upon having Sonic explain to him where he and Jet were going, Tails was a little surprised Wave wasn't there to protest, and according to Sonic, hadn't protested the idea all morning. Unsurprisingly, the blue hedgehog didn't think much of it, but Tails did, because he knew what Wave thought about the matter. He wasn't sure if he should really involve himself in the matter, though, so at first he tried to let the subject slide. But finally, after sitting alone and working on a train of thought that ended up dead-ending like all the ones before, Tails decided he was going to ask.

Wave, however, had gone to do her own thing. This didn't surprise Tails. From the beginning, he and Wave worked more separately than together, only changing this when they thought they were onto something that the other would need to know about, or to try and bounce new ideas off one another. Tails respected this, especially seeing that the two of them hadn't always been on the best of terms in the past. On this particular occasion, however, it took a little bit of searching until he found Wave, and even then, he was a little surprised.

She was standing on the balcony that surrounded the observatory that was placed on the upper levels of the workshop. She had a portable computer with her, and it looked like she had indeed been doing some work on it, but when Tails arrived, she had gotten distracted, and was instead leaning on the railing and looking down at the ground below. Tails joined her at the railing, watched her for a moment, and then followed her gaze.

Not far from the workshop was Storm, who was standing there and waving his arms around in a purposeful, but unidentifiable way.

"What's he doing?" Tails finally asked aloud.

"It's an ancient form of Babylonian exercise," Wave began to explain without missing a beat. "It refines one's bodily motions for hand-to-hand combat situations, but also doubles as a kind of meditative thing. Not to mention just all-around good exercise. It's sort of like those martial arts like kung-fu and the such that the humans have."

"Ah," Tails remarked curtly. He was silent for a moment. "Jet and Sonic left to have that race they were talking about yesterday," he commented.

"I know," Wave stated, nodding.

"I, uh, thought you weren't going to let Jet do it, though. Didn't you talk to him about it?"

"I did," Wave remarked, suddenly finding her work more interesting and turning back to it. "He…talked me out of it, though."

"Okay," Tails said, nodding. "But…you seemed pretty adamant about it last night."

"Jet raised a few good points, though." Wave seemed _very_ preoccupied with her work now, and seemed anxious for the conversation to end now.

This only made Tails suspicious. Giving Wave an odd look, he chose his next words carefully. "Just what did Jet _do_ to convince you otherwise?"

Wave glanced at Tails briefly, blushed a little, and refused to answer.

* * *

Meanwhile, some distance away from the workshop, facing inland, Sonic and Jet were gearing up for their race, planning to head down a stretch of land where the jungles of the Mystic Ruins were at their thinnest.

"You ready for this, Jet?" Sonic quipped as he stretched. "I mean, racing with Extreme Gear is one thing, but you _really_ sure you want to race with me on foot?"

"Just don't be too surprised when you lose, hedgehog," Jet retorted, who was more than confident that his flying power would be enough to challenge Sonic in a fair race. He already had an idea how fast he could fly. He just didn't know his top speed.

But he figured it would be _really_ fast.

"So how do we want to do this, anyway?" Sonic asked seriously, getting into position to start running. "Seeing that we're _supposed_ to be out here seeing how fast you can fly, after all. Shall I go slow and gradually speed up, or…"

"Just start running, Sonic," Jet urged, also getting into position. "Don't hold back. You'll know when I can't go any faster."

Sonic grinned cockily. "All right, then," he remarked, gearing up to start running. "Best get ready, because here we GO!"

In a blink of an eye, Sonic was off and running, surging away at a tremendous speed that one could blink at and miss, but was only more of a light jog for Sonic. He really didn't think he was going to need to go much faster. Laughing, Sonic glanced back behind him, expecting to see a surprised Jet trying to catch up, but didn't see anything. He at first presumed this simply meant he had left Jet in his dust until he looked over his other shoulder and saw Jet flying along beside him, matching Sonic's speed perfectly with what appeared to be little ease. Sonic blinked in surprise, but otherwise stayed calm.

"About how fast is this?" Jet called to the hedgehog running beside him.

Sonic thought for a moment. "About the same as the Tornado's lowest speed," he estimated.

Jet looked disappointed. "Ah, c'mon, Sonic!" he protested, "We already know I can go this fast! Let's go faster!"

Sonic shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said.

He put on another burst of speed suddenly, more than doubling his forward momentum now. He again expected to have caught Jet off guard by the move, and expected Jet to be lagging behind now. And at first, this seemed to be true. But after only a few seconds, Jet quickly caught up with the hedgehog, again matching his speed as the hawk flew along.

_Now_ Sonic was starting to feel impressed. "Still haven't hit your top speed yet?" he asked loudly.

"Not yet!" Jet called back. "We need to go faster!"

"But I'm about to exceed the speed of sound!" Sonic warned, "You _sure_ you want me to go faster?"

"Break the sound barrier already, Sonic!" Jet challenged, "I'm getting _bored_ waiting for you to do it!"

That did it for Sonic, who made a slightly mischievous grin. "Okay, you asked for it," he said, and laid on another heavy burst of speed.

A second later, and Sonic heard the echoing bang of him matching, then exceeding, the speed of sound, the still air around him rushing past him so fast it felt more like a tornado, the surrounding terrain becoming a mere blur. Already he had gone far enough that he reached the edges of Mystic Ruins, and watched as the jungles melted away into a hilly plain as he crossed into completely new territories. Sonic laughed again, feeling confident that Jet wouldn't be able to match this speed.

But then he heard another bang that at first he presumed to be the echo of the sonic boom he made just seconds earlier, only to see Jet fly up idly beside him.

"Hi!" the green hawk called with a smirk. Seeing the look of shock on Sonic's face, he added, "I told you to not be surprised!"

Sonic felt offended now. Running beyond the speed of sound was _his_ shtick. "All right, that's it!" he called, "I'm not holding back!"

"About time!" Jet responded, and he readied himself.

Sonic pushed himself to his fastest, determined to pull ahead of Jet. But it was never long before Jet was matching that speed. And then soon, Jet was starting to pull ahead. Alarmed now, Sonic pushed himself even faster. He was confident that he had _never_ gone this fast before without anything like a Chaos Emerald to draw strength off of. But it was quickly proving to just not be enough. For once in his life, Sonic found he just couldn't go fast enough. Slowly, Jet pulled further and further ahead while Sonic could do nothing but watch. Soon, Jet had pulled ahead by several feet, flying along and looking like he was having the time of his life, and _still_ didn't look like he had hit his max yet.

But then, just as Sonic, tiring, was starting to come to terms with the fact that he just couldn't match that speed, and was already struggling to maintain the speed he was already at, an aura of light suddenly fluttered into existence around Jet, and then in the next instance, there was a brilliant, blinding, flash of light, and Jet was suddenly _gone_. Sonic didn't even have time to acknowledge this before a shockwave of air slammed into him, feeling like a ton of brick had hit him, and Sonic tumbled painfully to the ground and ground to a halt.

* * *

But back at Tails's workshop, well before Sonic had hit the ground, something slammed suddenly into the sea several feet out from shore. Tails and Wave, in the middle of discussing their latest theory on the observatory's balcony, both turned and looked in surprise at the plume of water the impact kicked up.

"What in the _world_?" Wave exclaimed, surprised.

Tails grabbed a pair of binoculars from a nearby shelf and peered through them at the now fading plume. It took him a moment to figure out what it was that was floating on the surface, but soon he realized it was a figure, and not just any figure.

"That's _Jet!_" Tails exclaimed in complete surprise.

"_What?_" Wave repeated, alarmed.

"Looks like he's unconscious!" Tails added, noticing that Jet was simply floating there.

Wave was already moving, throwing herself at the railing as she called down at Storm, who had also seen the impact and was looking puzzled in its direction.

"Storm, its Jet!" she called urgently, "Grab your Extreme Gear and go fetch him!"

Storm nodded, and quickly hurried into motion to go grab his board. But Tails was also moving. Having set aside the binoculars, the two-tailed fox vaulted over the railing for the balcony and promptly started spinning his tails like a helicopter to slow his descent. Once he had landed safely on the ground, he ran for the cliff edge that separated them from the sea below and jumped off it, again using his tails to fly, for as long as he could this time, trying to get as close as he could to Jet. He got about three-fourths of the way before he stopped spinning his tails and purposely dove into the sea, swimming the rest of the way to Jet. He found the hawk floating on his back, thankfully, but he was unconscious and just about to slip under the water when Tails reached him. Quickly, the smaller fox worked to keep Jet's head above water, and proceeded to swim back to shore.

He didn't have to go that far. Storm arrived on his Extreme Gear as instructed, and pulled both Tails and Jet from the water, and brought them back to solid ground at the beach that neighbored the cliffs the workshop was placed on. Wave was waiting for them, having hurried over. Quickly, they put Jet down on the sand and started checking him over.

"He doesn't _seem_ hurt," Tails noted with some relief.

Wave had brought her portable computer with her, and was now using it to scan Jet. "I'm not immediately detecting any injuries," she remarked, sounding even more relieved than Tails.

"But what happened?" Storm inquired, still puzzled.

Tails and Wave glanced at each other, but neither spoke. They didn't know.

It was then that Sonic suddenly sped up to them, a little dirtied from his fall earlier but otherwise unhurt. Seeing the group standing around Jet's unconscious body, he skidded to a stop and quickly looked the situation over.

"What happened?" he demanded, "Is Jet okay?"

"So far as we can tell, but he ended up going for a swim a moment ago," Wave grumbled a little darkly. "I thought he was with _you_."

"He _was_," Sonic said in his defense. "We were racing each other just as planned, when Jet suddenly just…_vanished_."

"Vanished?" Tails repeated, intrigued.

"Yeah, I don't know _what_ happened, but one moment we were speeding along, Jet actually getting _ahead_ of me, and then there was a flash of light, some kind of shockwave that bowled me over, and Jet was _gone_!" Sonic looked out at sea. "How did he get out there, anyway?"

"I was hoping you could tell us," Wave remarked, glancing at the hedgehog.

"What direction were you travelling in, Sonic?" Tails asked, already having a possible theory forming in his mind.

But what Sonic said next changed the entire scope of the situation. "That way," he said, pointing behind him, "_Away_ from the shore and further inland."

"How far inland?" Wave demanded next as Tails appeared to become lost in thought.

"We were already several miles in, heading on out of Mystic Ruins," Sonic remarked.

"How fast were you going?" Tails asked.

Here Sonic hesitated. "I don't know," he admitted, "I kind of lost track. Well over the speed of sound, though."

"And Jet was going _faster_ than you?" Storm exclaimed in surprise.

"I know!" Sonic exclaimed back, looking hurt that his status as the fastest thing alive was no longer safe. "I don't know how he was doing it! And the weird thing is that he looked ready to go even faster, at least before he vanished!"

"_Faster_?" Tails repeated, now stunned.

He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted when Jet suddenly came to, coughing and sputtering suddenly as he failed his arms about.

"Jet!" Wave said, turning back to the hawk, and kneeling down beside him, "Are you all right?"

Jet looked blearily at her for a moment. He looked like he was still trying to piece things together himself. "I think so," he muttered softly, then coughed again. "Wave, it's probably obvious already, but seeing that I promised, I'm telling you now that I think something went wrong."

Wave managed a weak chuckle at this. Jet looked around, trying to pick out his surroundings.

"What happened, anyway?" he asked.

"We're still trying to figure that out," Tails said.

"It seems you somehow crashed into the sea, though," Sonic remarked.

Jet looked up at the hedgehog blankly for a second. "Really?" he repeated then admitted, "I suppose that's why I'm so wet at the moment." He shook one soggy, gloved, hand for emphasis.

"What's the last thing you remember happening?" Wave urged.

Jet had to think about it for a few seconds. "I'm not one hundred percent sure," he admitted. "I remember racing Sonic, pulling ahead of him, though. We were going pretty fast already. And then, suddenly…" he trailed off for a second. "Suddenly I was going a whole lot _faster_."

"How much faster?" Tails asked, looking like he was on the verge of an explanation.

"I'm not sure," Jet said, "I didn't really have control over it. Didn't have the _time_ to. I just know I was moving pretty fast. I…I don't know, it was hard to tell because I was going so fast things just started to blur together, but…I think I saw land and sea and then land again, before it gave way to sea again…all very quickly."

There was a moment of silence in the group. Jet carefully sat up, wiping his wet feathers out of his face.

"I guess you were going a lot faster than the speed of sound, then," Sonic remarked idly, stating what was already becoming to be obvious.

Tails, however, shook his head, completely awed now. "The speed of sound, _nothing_," he remarked loudly, looking at his longtime friend, "Sonic, I think he hit the speed of _light_."


	11. Bending The Rules

A lot of talk, but it's important talk, and all relevant to the conflict. A fair bit of sciencey stuff, but nothing too bad.

11.

Bending The Rules

"So…just how is it even possible for him to go so fast?"

Tails glanced up at Sonic from the handheld computer he had been working with, and was forced to simply shrug.

They were back at the workshop now, with Tails working at trying to come up with an explanation to prove his theory. After he had made his claim that Jet had somehow hit the speed of light back at the beach, Jet had also declared that he was getting cold from the seawater he was still drenched with and wanted to dry off, so it was decided to come back here to continue the conversation. The others had held off asking their questions until then. But now that they were here, the questions could be held back no longer.

"Are we even sure he truly went that fast?" Wave asked. "I mean, it seems so impossible for an object like Jet to hit such extreme speeds…"

"I know!" Sonic agreed, who actually knew a thing or two about this sort of thing. "Not even me in my super form—no, scratch that—not even my _hyper_ form can go that fast. Not from the lack of trying, either! I've _tried _to hit the speed of light before but…it just isn't possible! And even if I _did_, I wouldn't be able to navigate! I just wouldn't have the ability to comprehend what's coming towards me soon enough!"

"I know, I _know_," Tails said as he worked. "There's a whole mess of physics issues, too, like time dilation, the extreme friction such speeds would generate, the inertia, not to mention the fact that it supposedly requires an infinite amount of energy in order to achieve the speed of light! But…how _else_ can we explain what happened? We already know Jet was going above and beyond the speed of sound when he hit this new speed, and judging from his own descriptions of the event, he went so fast that he circled the globe once…maybe even twice…in a matter of just a few _milliseconds_! Nothing _short_ of the speed of light can account for that!"

"So…back to my original question…" Sonic said, portraying this statement with his hands.

"_I don't know_," Tails confessed. "As far as I understand physics, it just _shouldn't_ have happened!"

"But it _did_," Wave empathized, "And it nearly got Jet seriously hurt in the process! So there _has_ to be an explanation!"

"All I know is what I've already told you guys," Tails persisted. "Against all the odds, Jet somehow hit the speed of light. And I haven't the foggiest idea how."

"That doesn't sound good," Jet remarked suddenly, strolling up as he rubbed a towel in one ear.

He had been away drying off until now, along with Storm, who was watching Jet curiously, just in case something else happened. Which it didn't, as Jet didn't think it would. But Storm insisted, and it seemed to reassure the albatross, so Jet allowed him to hover around him, if only because he knew Storm would cause more trouble if he didn't.

"Jet, can _you_ tell us anything more about what happened?" Sonic inquired.

Jet shook his head. "Like I said, it was all a blur to me. I barely had time to acknowledge what had happened before I was crashing into the sea. Which I don't even remember." But then he grinned and elbowed Sonic in the ribs. "But all I care about is the fact that I can _finally_ say that _I'm_ the fastest thing alive."

Sonic frowned, and grumpily folded his arms, his ego still severely bruised by this one detail.

Tails, however, was worried about other things. "This is serious, Jet!" he said, taking his handheld computer and scanning Jet straightaway. "You can't just look at the fact that you somehow hit the speed of light and no one knows how so lightly! Any _number_ of untold effects, both good and bad, could've happened that I can't even begin to predict to both you _and _the space around you!"

Jet grabbed the edge of Tails's handheld computer and lowered it, drawing Tails attention to himself. "Look, you've already done your scans, and they turned up nothing. I'm not hurt, and in fact feel better than ever. So I say we just let sleeping dogs lie. Who cares anyway if I can do the impossible?"

"_I _care!" Wave proclaimed, who had grabbed a handheld computer of her own, and was doing her own scans of Jet. "_Everybody_ should care when someone does the impossible, simply because it _is_ impossible!

Jet still waved the matter aside, tossing the towel he had been using to Storm. "Ah, I still say it's not _that_ big a deal. Bet I could even go faster if I tried."

Sonic's eyebrows shot up. "_Faster_ than the speed of light?"

"No, no, no, no, no," Tails objected promptly. "I don't _care_ what you do Jet, this is one thing that I know with absolute _certainty_ that you cannot do! It's literally _impossible_ for any matter, energy, or even information to exceed the speed of light in this plane of space. This is a universal constant that cannot be broken without changing the laws of physics. The _only_ known way to exceed the speed of light is to slip into hyperspace, and _that's_ an entirely different ballpark, because that's a totally different plane of space from ours where, to put it in layman's terms, the laws of physics are different."

"Well, maybe that's how the boss managed to hit the speed of light," Storm reasoned logically.

Tails shook his head. "No, I already thought of that. If Jet_ had_ slipped into hyperspace somehow, we would've seen evidence of it all over the place. Opening windows into hyperspace, you see, puts off a whole lot of energy and leaves residual distortions in space and time afterwards, which easily shows up in sensor scans. But I've found _none_ of that. So, somehow, Jet did it while remaining in _this_ plane of space."

Jet had started rubbing at his head during this explanation as it only served to confuse him, and growled. "Look you guys," he finally stated. "All that really matters is that I got out of it okay! No harm done!"

"I beg to differ with that!" Wave suddenly spoke up, looking up from her scans of Jet. "Your body is showing all kinds of stress, the chemical levels of your endocrine system are _all_ out of whack, that aura of energy of yours has spiked in size _again_, and there's an unusual buildup of excess energy, the same that makes up that aura, starting to show up in your body that is probably interfering with its natural processes." She paused as she thumbed through some more information and then glanced up at Jet with a glare. "And you _still_ haven't gotten any sleep since this all began, have you?"

"I _tried_," Jet stated in his defense, "But the best I could manage was a light doze. Ended up tossing and turning most of the night. I just wasn't tired!"

"But you still need sleep, Jet!" Tails remarked, getting copies of Wave's scans and bringing them up on his handheld computer, then nodding in dismay at what he saw. "Not getting the sleep you need is bad for you. Already I can see that it's causing harm to your body. Can't you feel it?"

Jet thought about it for a moment then shrugged. "No," he admitted, "But I am hungry. I'm ready to eat."

"_Again_?" Sonic exclaimed. "But breakfast was less than an hour ago!"

"His metabolism is way of the charts," Tails explained. "Hitting the speed of light probably drained the energy out of him."

"Doesn't look like it to me," Storm remarked, watching the hawk.

And it was true. Jet seemed as bright and perky and energetic as ever.

"All right, that's it," Wave declared, switching goals with what she was working on, "Now we have evidence that this flight power of yours is causing trouble. Our next goal is to get rid of it."

"_What_?" Jet protested. "No! I _like_ this power too much! It makes me fast, and…allows me to do so much that I've always wanted to do, and…"

"Sorry Jet, but I have to side with them," Sonic admitted, jabbing a thumb at Tails and Wave. "They're right, this power of yours is obviously going to cause you harm if it continues for too much longer. It's time to put a stop to it."

"There _has_ to be another way," Jet persisted. "Some way to…I don't know…compensate. To get my body to adapt. There must be a way!"

"Jet, at the rate things are going, you'll _die_ sooner or later if we don't do this!" Wave finally snapped, summing up the final point of the argument.

A moment of morbid silence fell after this.

"Die?" Storm repeated, looking uneasy.

"Really?" Sonic asked, glancing at Tails.

Tails hesitated for a moment, but was forced to nod. "If the pattern we're seeing here continues, then yeah, Wave's not exaggerating," he admitted. "It seems to me that this power is simply becoming too much for Jet's body to handle. It's wearing him out, but prohibiting him from getting the rest he needs. Sooner or later, it's just simply going to give out trying to support it."

"Then just have me stop using it!" Jet said. "It can't cause harm if I don't use it!"

"That won't be enough, Jet!" Wave argued. "We've already proven that the power affects your body in all sorts of ways when you're not using it, and besides, you weren't using it for most of last night, and it _still_ kept you up all night!"

"You don't know that!" Jet pointed out. "That could've just been a case of insomnia!"

"Insomnia doesn't usually work like that, Jet," Tails pointed out.

"Besides, you've _never_ had a history with insomnia before, until you got these powers," Wave argued.

"I'm _not_ giving up these powers so easily, Wave." Jet stated flatly.

"Jet, so help me, you are _not_ going to stand in my way on this, I _will_ put an end to this somehow, you just wait and…"

"Hold on!" Sonic said, suddenly interrupting, grabbing both Wave and Tails and leading them away. "Gotta interrupt here. Tails, Wave, can we talk about this a little? In private? Jet, you stay here. Storm, you keep an eye on him in case something happens to him."

"Nothing is going to happen to me!" Jet argued, watching the hedgehog led the two up the warehouse cavern's stairs.

"Just humor me, Jet!" Sonic asked as he pushed Wave and Tails out the door, and closed it behind him.

Jet fumed for a moment then glanced at Storm, who stood his ground.

"It's just to play it safe, boss," he pointed out.

"I don't need a babysitter!" Jet argued, but he relented and sat down. To pass the time, he glanced at the handheld computer Tails had left behind and at the scan the fox kit had taken, trying to make heads or tails of it.

* * *

Upstairs, Sonic, Tails, and Wave gathered in the hanger with the Tornado to talk privately.

"Okay look," the hedgehog began, "I gotta ask. Are we really for real about this whole dying thing? Can it _really_ come to that?"

"Not right away, but yeah," Wave persisted.

"She's right," Tails agreed. "At first, it'll just show in little things, like weakening muscles, lowered cognitive abilities, and so on, but as time goes on, it'll likely degrade into hallucinations, losing strength, before ultimately gradual organ failure due to the body being forced to work nonstop as it has for so long, which _will_ led to death in the end if Jet doesn't start getting some rest. We can't let this continue."

"But you _know_ Jet isn't going to be for this," Sonic objected. "He _likes _this power of his too much. He was thinking it was all great and that nothing bad was going to happen from it, but now you're suddenly telling him it's going to kill him."

"Because we didn't know until now that it _would_." Wave argued.

"But it's not really the power itself that's inheritably harmful," Tails pointed out. "In fact, there's really nothing wrong with it. It's just that it seems Jet's body can't handle supporting it, and it's wearing it out. Furthermore, that energy buildup Wave noted earlier in Jet's body probably has a role in this too. In fact, that energy is probably what's robbing Jet of the need to rest. That excess energy is fueling his body in such a way that it's _forcing _it to continue without rest, something it just can't keep doing forever."

"And then there's the fact that the chemical levels in Jet's body are all being skewed by this power, which also probably isn't helping in the slightest," Wave remarked. "Jet can protest as much as he likes, but I'm not letting that power of his to keep doing this to him. At the very least, I'm going to find some way to inhibit its effects on him."

"But Jet will fight you every step of the way," Sonic pointed out, "I can tell, and to be perfectly honest, I can't blame him. It'd be like someone trying to take away my ability to run as fast as I can. Even if it was done for my own good, I wouldn't stand for that. I'd fight it as much as I possibly could. It's part of what makes me who I am."

"And that may be true for you, Sonic, but for Jet it's different," Tails pointed out. "We can't even confirm how long Jet has had this power, why it went unnoticed for so long, or if it's even genetic. I took some DNA samples to analyze the other day that would probably tell us, but it's going to take some more time still before the computer can give me the results, so until then, we really just can't say. It's possible this power isn't even natural, and was just forced upon him in some shape or form, in which case, it really _isn't_ a proper part of him."

"Maybe that might tell us a bit more about why this power of Jet's is affecting him the way it is," Sonic reasoned.

"I'm not going to wait that long," Wave persisted. "We probably don't even have the time. We need to stop this. Now. Can't you see that, Sonic?"

"I can, and believe me, I don't want to see anybody get hurt from this mess," Sonic said.  
"I'm just letting you guys know that you have to see it from Jet's angle too. He doesn't want to part with the power, nor should he really have to be forced to."

"But that's another issue, too," Wave pointed out. "Remember that this power has been messing with the balance of chemicals in his body. Not only does that affect the usual bodily functions, it can, and probably already has, messed with his thinking."

"You mean he's not thinking straight?" Tails clarified, not having thought of this. "Hmm, I suppose that's possible…but if so, it's not as apparent as I'd expect it to be."

"No, think about it," Wave persisted. "Jet gets a natural thrill from using that power. That's caused by sudden spikes in certain chemicals in his body, spikes the _power_ is causing. He could possibly even be getting addicted to it. I can't say for certain. What I _can_ say, though, is that it's obviously messing with his thinking, and bending the laws of physics today probably hasn't helped with that any. If anything, he's probably thinking even less straight."

It was then that the door to the cavern warehouse burst open and Storm stumbled up into the room.

"Hey, you guys better come and see this," he said urgently.

* * *

When Storm led Sonic, Tails, and Wave back into the cavern workroom, they saw Jet hard at work jotting down complex mathematical equations on a series of chalkboards, going at it with a vigor and determination none of them had ever seen in Jet before. Stunned, the group all stopped to watch him work.

"Well, so much for the theory of him not thinking straight," Sonic remarked.

"What is he even working on?" Wave remarked, squinting her eyes at the equations, as she tried to work them out.

"I don't know, I don't think I've ever seen math like this," Tails admitted as he skimmed through the work, "But it all seems to be checking out, so he obviously knows what he's doing."

"But that can't be," Wave protested. "Jet's terrible at math! He can't even do basic addition without using his fingers!"

"I _can_ hear you guys, you know," Jet remarked aloud as he worked on putting the finishing touches on the last set of equations before stepping back to survey his work. "There, that should do it." A pause, then, "Somehow."

"_Somehow_?" Tails repeated.

"And do _what_?" Sonic asked, feeling overwhelmed as he studied the complex equations that all went over his head.

Wave noticed Jet's blank look as these questions were asked. "Jet, do you even _know_ what you've written here?" she asked.

Jet shook his head slowly. "No, I have no clue at all."


	12. Right Answers To Wrong Questions

This chapter feels very crammed full of info, more than what would be wise, probably...but I'd rather have it be crammed full of info than to spread that info across several chapters, dragging out the story unnecessarily, so...yeah. Also refer to Empire City being a part of the United Federation, which, as there is no real in-game confirmation of this, is mere presumption on my part, but in my mind, it's logical. :)

12.

Right Answers To Wrong Questions

There was now a renewed fervor in Tails's workshop as the gang tried to address these new mysteries about Jet and his flight power, but no one really knew what to make of what they were learning now. Before, the matter had been simple enough, with Jet simply having gained the ability to hover and fly under his own power suddenly, with the objective being to try and figure out how this had happened as suddenly as it had. But then Jet managed to use this power to achieve the speed of light, promptly leading Tails and Wave to discover that the power was slowly causing harm to Jet that, should it be allowed to prolong itself, could potentially kill him, proving that the power wasn't going to be wanted anymore.

But this even didn't quite compare with the newest development, with Jet suddenly getting up and writing down a series of mathematical equations that no one, not even Jet himself, had seen before. Worse still, Jet didn't seem to understand what he had written, or why he had done it. All he could do now is randomly get up and make the odd addition to the equations, and continually insist that they would somehow help, even though he himself didn't know how. Having to start somewhere, though, the group spilt up the tasks so to try and get to the bottom of this. Storm and Sonic kept an eye on Jet in case any new developments turned up, while Tails tackled the equations the hawk had written, and Wave got new scans of Jet and scanned through the information.

Soon, Wave had more questions than answers.

"Okay, this is a scan of an ordinary brain, working under normal circumstances," Wave explained to Sonic when she presented her information to him, pointing at a colored scan of the organ on a screen. "The colors represent how much activity is going on, with red being the highest. On average, with a normal brain, there is usually very little red. But now look at this scan of Jet's brain as it stands now."

The screen changed to show a new scan. Sonic's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"It's nearly all red," he said aloud.

Wave nodded. "I'm not sure why, but Jet's brain activity has spiked immensely," she explained. "Actually, we were seeing signs of this as far back as yesterday with our first scans, but it was to a much smaller degree then, and it was more focused on areas of sense perception and information processing. In fact, those areas are still showing the greatest activity, as you can see here and here." She pointed with one finger at the areas that showed the darkest red. "It made sense at first, because logically one would need increased activity in those areas to use Jet's power effectively."

"But…not to this degree, right?" Sonic asked.

"No, not at all," Wave agreed. "And what's odd is that it doesn't stop there, but has spread all across Jet's brain. Everything has increased in activity. Intelligence, senses, subconscious, memories, even emotion, have all become highly active, much more than normal. To compare it to a computer, it's as if Jet's brain suddenly didn't have enough room to store information in those areas anymore, and it had to start resorting to use the rest of the brain to store it."

"So you're saying Jet's brain is suddenly filled up with a lot more information than usual?" Sonic asked. "Could this possibly explain how he came up with those equations?" he pointed a finger at the chalkboards Tails was examining still.

Wave sighed. "Logically, yes, but it doesn't explain why Jet doesn't understand what it is that he wrote."

"Except that he's apparently confident that it'll help," Sonic added.

"I still do!" Jet called from across the room where he and Storm sat, trying to pass the time. "I wish I could tell you why, but…" he trailed off.

"It does worry me, actually," Wave confessed to Sonic. "Seeing all this unusual activity in his brain has gotten me wondering if his brain can even handle this. The fact that he doesn't understand the equations that _he_ wrote down could be a sign of that for all I know at this point."

Sonic sighed. "And that on top of the already existing problem of his powers wearing down his body doesn't help any." He turned to Tails. "I don't suppose you have come up with any answers, have you little buddy?"

Tails pulled his eyes away from the chalkboards for a moment to look at them. "No…well…maybe…I don't really know at this point. I'm still trying to figure out these equations."

"What have you figured out so far?" Wave inquired.

Tails stepped back a pace or two from the chalkboards, looking the equations over as a whole. "Not a lot, but I'm fairly certain these are physics equations. They just pertain to rules about our physical universe I can't even identify with any certainty just yet. I _think_ they might pertain to Jet's flight ability, explaining why he thinks they'll help, but…" he shook his head, "I can't be certain just yet."

"Well great," Sonic muttered, leaning against a worktable to think. "We're not getting very far with this, are we?"

Tails shook his head reluctantly. "To be honest, it could take years to figure this all out at this point," he admitted.

"But we don't _have_ years!" Wave protested. "We might not even have days! Jet's condition seems to be getting worse and worse exponentially!"

"Oh, we're calling it a condition now, are we?" Sonic remarked sarcastically.

"What _else_ should we call it?" Wave protested. "Jet _still_ hasn't gotten any sleep, and his body is continuing to show strain from that! That mysterious energy is still building up in his body, his metabolism has increased so much that I'm starting to worry he's going to reach a point where he just can't eat enough to keep himself going, and now his brain looks like it's about ready to fry itself!"

"I'll admit that it doesn't look good," Sonic admitted.

"You bet it doesn't!" Wave snapped, tossing a tool angrily across the cavernous workroom.

"Hey guys!" Storm suddenly called from across the room, "He's doing it again!"

The trio hurried over to see Jet hard at work scribbling down new equations on a pad of paper, with the same vigor as he had with all the equations before. They gathered around to watch.

Tails studied the equations, and was instantly intrigued. "These equations seem to be a different sort from before," he noted.

"Yeah, they are," Wave agreed, and reached for Jet's pad of paper. "Jet, can I see these for—"

"No, I'm not finished!" Jet snapped suddenly, wrenching the pad from Wave's grip before continuing.

"How can you know boss?" Storm asked, who probably felt lost the most out of the whole group. "You can't even tell us what the equations are!"

"I know!" Jet snapped, who was clearly annoyed about this. "But they'll help! I think the answers we need might be in these equations! Maybe even a solution to the problem that will keep all of us happy!"

"You aren't still hoping that you'll be able to keep the flight power, do you Jet?" Wave asked, ludicrous. "Because this has obviously gone much further than that!"

"He might be onto something, though," Tails reasoned. "If we _do_ let Jet continue having these sudden mathematical…insights…maybe he'll come up with something that will help. At the very least, we've tried just about everything else. What else do we have to lose?"

"We stand to lose Jet himself!" Wave pointed out bitterly.

"It's not going to come to that, Wave!" Jet persisted. "We'll think of something!" he paused. "Or maybe at the very least I will."

Sonic was rubbing his chin in thought, then turned to Wave. "Wave, you said his brain has become active all over, right?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Wave responded slowly, unsure why Sonic was asking.

"What if it's a sign of him getting…I don't know…really, _really_, smart?"

"Smart?" Jet remarked, "Then why can't I tell you guys what it is that I'm writing down?"

"Maybe the intelligence is just building up to too much too quickly," Sonic reasoned. "Kind of like when you pour something through a funnel. It's all there in the funnel, but only a little bit of it can come out at a time."

Tails pulled at his whiskers in thought for a moment. "You might be onto something there, Sonic," he said. "It would at the very least explain a few things."

"But, I don't understand," Storm remarked, "How is he getting smarter?"

Suddenly, Wave slapped her face as the answer donned on her. "Because his increased sense perception and processing of information!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that sooner? What's happening is that he's seeing things around him and is suddenly starting to see patterns and the such he didn't see before that he's figuring out, probably without even realizing it, all of this stuff! _That's_ how he figured out why the sky is blue last night!"

"It _is_?" Jet asked, sounding skeptical, as he finished the equations and passed the pad to Tails.

"Yeah!" Wave said, nodding. "You literally _did_ just sit there and figure it out. It's just, with your increased perception of the world, you figured it out a whole lot faster than the rest of us did. And once you got a stockpile of little facts you had observed, you simply started putting two with two!"

"But…I don't feel any smarter!" Jet grumbled.

"That goes back to Sonic's analogy of the funnel," Tails explained. "It's all still there, you just haven't the ability to access it all at once."

"While this is all good, it doesn't help us any with our problem, though," Storm objected suddenly.

"The big bird's right," Sonic agreed. "We're getting answers to all the wrong questions here."

"Unfortunately, I still don't have the information I need to give you those answers, Sonic," Tails remarked as he studied the new equations, shaking his head. "I can't even make heads or tails of these equations. They don't seem to be any kind of math I've ever seen before."

"Let me see," Wave said, motioning to the two-tailed fox to give her the pad of paper.

Tails immediately surrendered it to the swallow. "Go ahead," he said, "I think I'm going to stick with the first equations Jet gave us, as I think something of use might still be there. Like I reasoned before, they might explain how Jet's flight powers even work, and if we know that, we would be in a lot better position to figure out a solution to this whole mess."

"At the very least, it would tell us how he managed to hit the speed of light, an answer I'd _really_ like an answer too, no matter how irrelevant it might be now," Sonic said.

"I hear you on that one, Sonic," Tails agreed with a nod. "By all accounts, Jet should have at the very least been killed in the attempt. The friction of the air rubbing against him should have fired him crisp, and the inertia alone would have squished him flat. Yet none of that happened, as if he was somehow shielded from it."

"The aura," Jet suddenly remarked.

Everyone glanced at him blankly for a moment then Tails suddenly made the connection.

"Of course!" the fox kit exclaimed. "The aura of energy we've been detecting around Jet all this time! Increased in power enough, and it could act as a shield!"

Sonic snapped his fingers together suddenly. "And an aura of energy appeared around Jet just before he vanished and hit lightspeed!" he exclaimed.

"You know, I _am_ still here, you don't need to refer to me in the third person like that!" Jet protested.

"This could also explain why your body is so full of the aura energy, though, Jet!" Wave said. "Enough energy had to be built up to create a powerful enough aura to shield you from those speeds!"

"But then…why is the energy still there?" Sonic asked, who didn't get that part of it.

"Yeah!" Storm agreed.

"Because the energy probably powers the flight, too!" Tails remarked. "We already theorized this much before. And it makes sense! Channel this energy in the right direction, and it would provide thrust. Like a rocket, to put it into rudimentary terms."

"Now wait a second," Sonic said, motioning to Wave and Tails, "You two have been saying that this energy buildup has been a bad thing, and now you're telling me that Jet's flight power burns this energy to work, so am I the only one who sees the obvious…?"

"Jet, start flying, now!" Wave commanded, interrupting Sonic as she saw his point.

Jet immediately jumped to his feet. "I thought you'd never tell me to!" he remarked in excited exasperation, and immediately launched himself into the air and started flying circles around in the chamber.

"Just don't hit the speed of light in here!" Sonic warned.

"I'm not stupid, Sonic!" Jet shouted back, who already knew this.

Wave folded her arms as she watched Jet fly, looking a little pleased with herself. "There, with a little luck, that should keep that energy buildup under control."

But Tails wasn't so sure. "I'm not so certain it's going to be enough, though," he remarked hesitantly. "I worry that because this energy powers the ability, more is just going to be produced to compensate. Maybe it'll cause the levels to plateau finally, but they aren't likely to go down anytime soon, not with the patterns we've been seeing."

"Oh, you're right," Wave realized. "If anything, though, this might just buy us a bit more time to work with."

"Well, that's better than nothing," Sonic said.

"Maybe," Tails omitted, "But since this energy is also what's keeping Jet from sleeping or getting the needed rest, it won't stop Jet from wearing his body down further still, our biggest problem at the moment." He thought for a moment, starting to pace. "What we need is some way to zap all the energy out of him in one go. Like with an antenna or something…something that can draw in and harness a lot of power really fast."

"Like a Chaos Emerald?" Storm inquired.

Tails jabbed a finger at him. "That could work," he agreed. "Using a Chaos Emerald to create a feedback loop through Jet could be sufficient to burn up a lot of that excess energy in him."

"Only one problem," Sonic remarked, "We don't have a Chaos Emerald. And getting one won't be easy."

"And why is that?" Wave asked. "Aren't you the number one user of them?"

"Yeah, with Eggman being number two," Sonic pointed out. "After the last fiasco we had with Eggman abusing them, the political guys decided to split the emeralds up, giving one to each country in the world for safe keeping. That way, they're all separate and under guard, instead of just lying around where Eggman could grab them like before. Likewise, to further lessen that danger, the emeralds aren't supposed to be moved except under grave emergencies. And I don't think they're going to consider our situation with Jet a big enough emergency."

"They should!" Wave argued.

"But you're _Babylon Rouges!_" Sonic pointed out. "In their book, criminals! Like they'd willingly give you guys even one Chaos Emerald, for any reason! Look, I don't like it either, but that's where we stand on the matter."

Tails thought for a moment. "However," he said suddenly, "There is GUN, who has in their possession a Chaos Emerald that they've been studying under government jurisdiction," he stated. "And we have a few allies in there. Maybe I can call Rouge, and see if I can get her to do us a favor and let us borrow it for a little while. No guarantees, though. It all depends on how much Rouge is willing to bend a few rules for our cause."

Jet floated over, frowning. "Well, that's a plumbeium idea!"

The others looked up at him, puzzled.

"What'd ya say, Jet?" Sonic asked, "We didn't quite catch that."

"I said it's a plumbeium idea!" Jet repeated.

This only generated more frowns from within the group, to Jet's puzzlement and frustration.

"Jet, speak clearly!" Wave ordered. "We can't make out what you're saying!"

"I said it's plubeium!" Jet repeated for a third time. "Plu-be-ium! What part of that can't you understand?"

"All of it!" Sonic stated. "What the heck does plubeium mean, anyway?"

Now Jet's brow furrowed. "What are _you _talking about?"

"That's what you're saying!" Sonic insisted. "Plubeium!"

"What?" Jet exclaimed. "No, I'm not! I'm saying it's plubeium!"

More blank looks. Tails opened a drawer from one of the worktables and pulled out a tape recorder. "Say that again, Jet," he instructed the hawk, turning on the device and pointing it up at Jet.

"For the last time, it's plubeium!" Jet hollered into the device, convinced he was saying it right.

But when Tails rewound the tape and played it for Jet, it was clear to him even that it wasn't.

"I'm _saying _that?" Jet repeated, bewildered. "But I meant to say plubeium!"

"You're still doing it!" Sonic told him.

Jet let out a frustrated cry in response. "Why the heck _am_ I doing that?" he demanded.

Wave looked worried. "Maybe all that brain activity is causing problems," she reasoned.

Storm grabbed the pad of paper from the swallow however, turned it to a clean page, and handed it to Jet. "Here, boss, write down what you're really trying to tell us."

Jet did, quickly scribbling down a sentence, before handing it back for the others to read. But it wasn't anymore enlightening for the others, because it read "_I'm saying that this idea is_" and then the writing turned into a series of entirely different symbols as Jet attempted to write down the word in question.

Sonic pointed a finger at the symbols, puzzled. "That's not English," he said, stating the obvious.

"It's not?" Jet asked, surprised.

"No, it's not," Tails confirmed, also looking puzzled.

"And while we're on the subject, why do these symbols seem familiar?" Sonic asked aloud.

"They should," Wave said, recognizing the symbols. "It's Ancient Babylonian."

"_What_?" Jet exclaimed, hovering down to grab the pad back and squinted his eyes at the symbols. "Plubeium," he read finally then blinked with realization. "Plagues and pestilence, that really _is_ Ancient Babylonai, isn't it?" Upon seeing everyone's look at this, he added, "I just did it again, didn't I?"

They nodded, before looking at each other, hoping someone had an explanation. But none was immediately offered.

"How can he be speaking Ancient Babylonian?" Tails asked finally. "Isn't it a dead language?"

Wave nodded solemnly. "No one has heard it spoken in hundreds of years, if not more, save a few choice words that have survived into our modern languages for use."

"So, the million dollar question we're faced with now is why the heck is Jet doing it, seemingly without meaning to, and why?" Sonic asked.

"And if this keeps up, how are you guys going to understand what I'm saying?" Jet inquired.

"Simple, just keep writing it down, and Wave and Storm can translate," Sonic said. "I mean, that knowledge hasn't been lost, right?"

But both rogues shook their head. "Neither of us know how to read Ancient Babylonian save a few words," Storm explained. "That was always the boss's job." He pointed up at Jet.

"That's not going to do you much good if this keeps up, you know!" Jet argued.

"But Knuckles knows how to read it, right?" Sonic suddenly asked.

"He does!" Tails agreed, nodding. "And he'd probably _jump_ at the chance to hear the language spoken aloud. Maybe by comparing the written words with the spoken words, he can learn the language himself, so _he_ could translate for us."

"But that still doesn't tell us why Jet's doing this, and how it's even connected!" Wave pointed out.

"Yeah, seeing we just deduced that he's getting smarter, you'd think this would be a step backwards," Sonic remarked.

Tails pondered the issue for a moment. "Maybe it has something to do with your Babylonian heritage you three have," he said, and then pointed at Wave and Storm, "In that case, I'm going to want DNA samples from you two, so I can test and compare them to Jet's."

"Okay, you guys work on that," Sonic stated, "I'll go upstairs and call Knuckles real quick, and see if I can talk him into leaving Angel Island and his precious Master Emerald for a little while."

"Okay, we'll let you know if anything else odd happens," Tails replied as Sonic hurried over to the staircase leading upstairs.

Up on the top floor of the workshop, in the part of the structure that actually served more as home than workshop for Tails, was an aging but functional video phone device. Sonic didn't know this, but it was fairly similar in design to the device Wave used to call Tails back when the rouges were at Apotos and in need of help. Likewise, the device served as more than just a means of communication. Sonic didn't really plan on using it for anything else, however.

Until he noticed a flashing box in one corner of its screen once he had booted it up.

The device happened to have a networked newsfeed, and would regularly present new stories as they became available for one's reading pleasure. Sonic knew that Tails used these newsfeeds to stay up to date in the happenings of the world. Usually he ignored them, but this one said "BREAKING NEWS" in big bold letters, and it instantly caught his attention. After a moment of debate, Sonic finally decided to look at the message, and opened the file, skimming through the news story.

He was glad he did, as he realized with a start that this affected him after all. Alarmed now, he turned his attention to an accompanying video clip, and promptly told the device to play it. It did, showing a news lady standing in a city, with a dark, unidentifiable, shape hovering in the clouds behind her.

"Breaking news here at Empire City in the United Federation," she began speaking promptly, "The notorious and worldwide wanted criminal, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman, has turned up in one of his airships, and has delivered an ultimatum to be met or the city faces destruction. In fact, here's the doctor's message now…"

The camera then zoomed in on the dark object looming in the background that now Sonic now realized was the airship in question, as Eggman played a loud message via a megaphone.

"Sonic The Hedgehog!" the message ran, "I hope for the city's sake that you sit down and watch the news here soon, because if you don't…well, really, who's going to miss Empire City? That's right, hedgehog. I just gave you a threat! If you don't heed to my demands within the next _three_ hours, I will level this city! And once I've done that, I fully intend on moving onto the next city and level _it_ too in another three hours if I _still_ haven't gotten what I want, so I highly recommend that you obey! My demands are this; you have something that I want, the Babylon Rogues! I want all _three_ turned over and surrendered _peacefully_ into my custody, with absolutely no tricks from anyone! Do this, and I will spare the United Federation of any unfounded grief today. I also want _you_ to keep your meddlesome self out of my affairs, or the deal is off. Again, I want all of the Babylon Rogues turned over to me in _three hours_ or Empire City gets it! _Don't_ be late, hedgehog."

The video then ended. Sonic stared at the ended video for a long moment, and found he had only one thing to say about it.

"Crap."


	13. Recruitment

Slight filler chapter here, but the plot continues onward still. Make what you could arguably call a reference to SatAM, sort of.

13.

Recruitment

Tails tapped the table before him impatiently as he waited for his call to go through to GUN. He had already gotten their operator and requested to be connected to Agent Rouge. The operator stated the call would go through in just a moment, but it was now rapidly approaching fifteen minutes and still the call had not gone through. To pass the time, Tails anxiously worked on trying to solve the mysterious equations Jet was still off-and-on producing, looking for answers to their growing multitude of problems, glancing back up at the video phone frequently in case his call was finally put through.

But he wasn't really getting anywhere, and he knew it. The best and only idea he had at the moment was using a Chaos Emerald to try and forcibly drain the excess energy that was building within Jet, which they had confirmed was rising still despite Jet's attempts to burn it off by using his flight powers. To Tails, it was really their first solid solution to the plan, and while it might _not_ be a permanent fix, it would be enough to buy them more time to find a better solution. But in order to carry out the plan, they were going to need a Chaos Emerald, and GUN was their best hope of getting one, even temporarily. But that wasn't going to happen if Tails's call didn't go through here soon.

Finally, though, after waiting so long, it did with a sudden beep. Tails breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to face the screen. "Finally, it's about time, what kept you…"

He trailed off when he realized who it was that was on the other end now, and it wasn't who he was expecting. The young kit felt his stomach stir uneasily, not particularly liking the idea of having to talk to this particular person, as he was understandably…difficult…to communicate with.

"Shadow," Tails finally stated for no real reason, other than to state the obvious.

The black hedgehog stared back at Tails with an unsurprisingly flat expression. "Tails," he responded back. He waited for Tails continue talking, and presumably get down to business.

But Tails, unprepared for this, wasn't sure how he should begin. "Uh, hi, how are you?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I am…well," he stated, and then promptly changed the subject to get down to business. "Was there something you needed?"

"Uh, yeah," Tails said, nodding, "But I was…kind of…expecting Rouge to answer."

"Rouge is away on an assignment in Mazuri."

"Oh, okay, then can you connect me to her there?"

Shadow shook his head. "Her mission requires her to maintain radio silence at all times until finished," he explained. "Furthermore, her exact location is unknown, so contacting her would be…difficult."

"Oh, um…" Tails felt his stomach turn again as he considered this undesired turn of events, "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"I do not. And even if I did, I am not sure you would need to know when."

Tails resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Shadow's lack of trust for him. Even after everything they had been through, Shadow didn't seem to trust anyone or anything fully. Of course, with his line of work, this was probably understandable, even though inconvenient at the moment.

"What was it that you needed?" Shadow prompted again.

Tails sighed, realizing he was going to just have to go through Shadow for this. "A Chaos Emerald, actually, is what I need," he explained.

Shadow's eyebrow rose again. "Is Dr. Eggman creating trouble?"

"Uh, a little," Tails replied, a little surprised that Shadow didn't already know what Eggman was up to, "But Sonic assures me it's nothing he can't handle. No, I need the emerald for something else entirely, and we were hoping we could use GUN's…for a little bit, at least."

Shadow started to look suspicious. Tails knew instantly that the hedgehog had caught on to the fact that the two-tailed fox was trying to purposely not go into detail why, and Shadow wasn't going to put up with it. "What for?"

Tails sighed, "Well, there's a little bit of a tale behind that, actually," he said. "Remember Jet the Hawk? You met at the last Extreme Gear competition."

"Vaguely."

"Well, here's what happened…" and Tails promptly and briefly summarized the situation with Jet and the Babylon Rouges and what they planned to do with the Chaos Emerald. Once done, Tails waited anxiously as Shadow considered all of this, the ultimate lifeform's expression completely unreadable, not revealing any clues about which side he might choose to side with.

"So you require the Chaos Emerald to try and keep this energy that's building up within Jet under control," Shadow recapped finally.

Tails nodded quickly. "If only to try and get it down low enough to allow Jet to get some sleep before his health becomes seriously jeopardized, and if only to give us some more time until we can find a better solution." He studied Shadow for a moment, again looking for any clue as to what Shadow was thinking about doing and finding nothing. "Look, Shadow, we don't have any better ideas at the moment, and I know you probably have little want or reason to try and help Jet or any of the Babylon Rouges, but if we don't do something soon…" Tails shook his head, "…I don't have much hope for Jet to survive this, to be honest."

Shadow was silent for a long moment. "I do not believe my superiors will see it the same way as you, Tails," he stated flatly, a comment that visibly made Tails's expression fall, helped by his ears folding back in dismay. "But…" Shadow continued suddenly, "I _may_ be able to…_assist_ with your dilemma. I will be in contact with you shortly. Please wait."

And with that, the screen went blank for a moment before it displayed the GUN logo on the screen, with the following words sitting below it.

"_G.U.N."_

"_Guardian Unit of Nations"_

"_Your call is appreciated."_

"_Please stand by while your call is answered in the order received."_

Tails was on hold again.

* * *

When the doorbell rang at the workshop's front door, Tails called down for someone to answer it for him. Storm was first to the door, so he answered it. He wasn't impressed by who he found standing there.

"Oh," he remarked gruffly, "It's you."

Knuckles at first seemed surprised to see Storm, but the expression quickly turned to one of discontent. "Right back at you."

They glared at one another for several moments, having not forgotten their rivalry for one second.

"Where's Tails?" Knuckles finally asked, well, demanded.

"Up there," Storm replied, pointing up at the ceiling to indicate the workshop's upper levels. "He's calling…somebody."

"Okay," Knuckles said, nodding slowly, "And why are _you_ down here instead of Tails?"

"He told me to answer the door," Storm replied again.

"Oh," Knuckles said semi-sarcastically, "Of course. Very logical."

There was another long moment of silence between the two. Storm had opened the door, but he hadn't let Knuckles inside the workshop yet, and didn't seem too inclined to. Knuckles, however, wanted answers. When Sonic had called him earlier, it seemed the hedgehog was in a hurry, and thus really didn't go into much detail about what this was all about. Just that they needed him here. Knuckles came only because it seemed urgent, and fully expected to receive the full explanation upon arrival. And here he was, not getting it, and it seemed Storm had no inclination to give it to him either. Or he just didn't think Knuckles required an explanation, but Knuckles was feeling too grumpy in the albatross's presence to think about that, and he didn't particularly want to talk to Storm anyway.

"Can you go get Tails?" the echidna finally asked coldly.

"Do it yourself," Storm grumbled, and turned and started to walk off.

"Well, fine!" Knuckles snapped, stepping inside finally and back-kicking the door closed behind him. "TAILS!"

There was a suddenly clatter heard upstairs, followed by rapid footsteps as Tails hurried to the stairwell leading down and peered into the lower floor. "Knuckles!" he exclaimed in clear relief, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming!" turning to Storm, who was just about to vanish down the stairway that led back into the cavernous workroom below, he said, "Storm, could you come up here and wait for my call to be taken off hold? Come tell me the moment it does."

Storm hesitated, clearly not really wanting too, but nodded, and trudged upstairs into the upper levels instead, taking Tails place as he stepped downstairs and towards Knuckles.

"Anyway, hi Knuckles, we haven't been seeing much of each other lately," Tails said as he approached the echidna. "Sorry we had to call you away from the Master Emerald. I know how you feel about leaving it unprotected." He glanced around Knuckles for a moment. "In fact, I'm kinda surprised you didn't bring it with you."

"I got Vector to look after for it for me while I'm away," Knuckles explained simply.

"Oh, how did you manage that?" Tails asked, with a semi-amused smirk as he thought about the crocodile unwillingly watching the large crystal on Angel Island.

"You forget that he and I go a long ways back. Granted, we've haven't always been on the best of terms, but we do owe several favors to each other, and I simply called him in on one. But I hope I won't be gone long, because I really don't trust Vector to stay on task for too long."

Tails nodded in understanding. "I don't blame you, so hopefully it won't, but I can't make any guarantees at this point."

"What _is_ going on, anyway?" Knuckles asked as Tails led the way to the cavern workroom downstairs, "Sonic didn't really explain it too well to me. He just said you needed my translating skills and to get over here as quickly as possible."

"I'm not surprised, he was in a hurry by that point, making that call and then quickly speeding on out to deal with Eggman."

"Eggman?"

"Yeah, it's a long story, but I'm guessing you're probably more interested in why Babylon Rouges are here."

"Yeah, just a _tad_."

"Okay, well, to summarize it in short, Jet somehow got this power to fly, glide, hover, whatever, under his own power, and didn't know why. Because they had been attacked by Eggman just prior to discovery and needed shelter, they came here to stay while we also tried to figure out Jet's new power, and where it came from. But then things started to get weird."

Knuckles made a puzzled expression as they arrived at the double doors leading into the cavern workroom. "Weird?"

Tails stopped and turned to him, looking very serious. "Not the good kind of weird, either. First, his power robbed him of the need to sleep and rest, and has been going nonstop ever since. This isn't good, because it's wearing out his body. If he doesn't get some sleep soon…" he trailed off, then started on a different aspect as he moved to open the door. "Then Jet started spouting off about equations I can't even identify, possessing knowledge I don't think anyone else has ever had before in the world. And it's just getting worse."

Knuckles placed a gloved hand on Tails's shoulder. "Worse?" he questioned.

Tails nodded as he opened the door finally. "Yeah, worse," he confirmed.

They stepped through the door and onto the metal catwalk that lead down to the floor, but Knuckles just stopped at the door, and leaned over the railing to survey the workroom, whistling aloud in amazement.

Clustered around the middle of the room where the remaining two Babylon Rouges were, were several chalkboards, whiteboards, notepads, stacks of paper, and more scattered everywhere, with all of them covered with equations the likes of which Knuckles couldn't even begin to identify.

As he and Tails approached, Jet hovered in the air, in the middle of writing down even more equations on what seemed to be the last empty chalkboard in the whole room. Even though he did it in an energetic fervor that indicated otherwise and seemed alert as always, Knuckles could see that Jet was visibly starting to wear down. He wasn't the only one. Working nearby, trying to interpret the complex equations, was Wave, who seemed both frustrated and worn out by it all. Flabbergasted, Knuckles said nothing as he stood there and watched the two for a moment then glanced at Tails with a silent question if this was really for real. Tails silent expression he gave back proved that it was.

Jet finished the equations he was writing suddenly, and turned, seeing Knuckles for the first time. "Knuckles!" he exclaimed, floating over. He then launched into a lengthy triad, speaking quite animatedly to the echidna about something, and seemed relieved to see him. Exactly what, though, was a mystery to Knuckles because only some of the words were still English. The rest were a different language that seemed like Knuckles should be familiar with, but wasn't.

Jet seemed to realize this, trailed off, and glanced exasperatingly over to Tails to explain.

"He's speaking Ancient Babylonian," the fox explained flatly, with a sigh.

Knuckles blinked in surprise, and stared at Jet in shock for a moment, before turning to Tails. "How?"

"We don't know," Wave responded without looking up from her work.

"Well, I have a few theories, but I need more data before I can go proving them," Tails explained further. "But there's more. Jet, write out a message for Knuckles, please."

Jet nodded, and took a pad of paper and jotted something down on it, and handed it over to a mystified Knuckles to read. The echidna glanced at the paper, then then a double-take and looked at it closer.

"He _writes_ in Ancient Babylonian, too?" he remarked, incredulous.

"Yeah, more with each passing minute," Wave remarked, suddenly holding up one of the sheets of Jet's equations she had been studying. "Now he's starting to write the equations in Ancient Babylonian too!"

"What?" Tails remarked in alarm, and then glanced at the equations Jet had just finished writing on the chalkboard. A couple mathematical symbols he was unfamiliar with immediately started to jump out at him that had to be Ancient Babylonian. "Oh no," he bemoaned, "I was afraid this would happen."

"Huh, now I can see why you needed me to translate," Knuckles remarked.

"Yeah," Tails said, nodding. "Probably the best way you're going to want to do that is to learn how to speak the language to, that way you can translate whatever Jet says as he says it, so he won't have to write it down to have it translated. We can cut out a whole step that way."

Knuckles nodded, still in awe about the whole situation. "Okay, sounds like a plan."

"Tails!" Storm suddenly called, appearing in the room's doorway, "Your call went through!"

Tails nodded, and hurried back upstairs to the video phone. Sure enough, Shadow was back on the end, and was waiting for him, probably impatiently, as he looked more displeased than usual.

"Sorry about that," Tails quickly apologized, "Knuckles arrived, and I had to run him through the details of the situation."

"Why is Knuckles here?" Shadow asked, curious.

"To translate. Remember that I told you Jet had started speaking in Ancient Babylonian?"

"Ah." Shadow then got down to business. "I have made the arrangements for the Chaos Emerald to be transported to your workshop on temporary loan. It should arrive before sundown."

Tails breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Shadow!" he exclaimed.

"You are welcome. But Tails…"

"Yes?"

"You owe me."

Tails forced a smile at this. "Okay, so noted."

"Goodbye."

"Bye, Shadow."

The screen went dark as Shadow hung up on his end. Tails let his forced smile turn into a frown, and pondered for a moment how one went about repaying favors to the ultimate lifeform before chasing that thought out of his mind in favor for another, more pressing, one. He turned back to the video phone, and started dialing in a new number.

* * *

The forest terrain a few miles out from Empire City was usually very quiet and peaceful along this stretch of land at this hour. But today, that serenity was shattered by two things. One of which was a blue hedgehog speeding through it at speeds border-lining that of the speed of sound. The other was the fact that the same hedgehog was also singing a little off key at the top of his lungs as he ran.

"Blue streak," Sonic sang along with the song playing on the MP3 player he was carrying in a satchel strapped over one shoulder, "Speeds by! Sonic The Hedgehog! Too fast, for the naked eye! Sonic The Hedgehog! Sonic, he can really move! Sonic, he's got an attitude! Sonic, he's the fast thing aliiiiiiveeeeive!"

There was a brief moment as Sonic jammed out while running to a brief instrumental part, before he continued singing again.

"Look out, when he storms through! Sonic The Hedgehog! Don't doubt, what he can do! Sonic The—"

_Brrriinnng!_

"Huh? Oh, phone."

Without slowing down, he paused the music, pulled out the earbuds from his ears, then pulled out a handheld video phone and glanced at the number flashing on the screen before answering.

"What's up, Tails?" he said into the phone as he ran.

"Judging from all the interference I'm hearing and the shaky picture, I take it you're still running to Empire City," Tails responded.

"Yeah, but I'm almost there," Sonic responded. "How are things on your end? Figured out anything new?"

"Unfortunately, no, but Knuckles arrived just now, and I arranged to _borrow_ the Chaos Emerald for GUN from awhile, although now I apparently owe Shadow a favor as a result."

"Oh, Shadow eh? That should prove to be interesting an interesting favor to fulfill."

"Anyway, I thought I'd ought to let you know." Tails was silent for a moment. "Sonic, are you sure about this?"

"Sure I'm sure. I go in and beat up Eggman and distract him while you fix things with Jet."

"I somehow doubt Eggman is going to give up so easily this time, though."

"I'd be disappointed if he did."

"Do you even have a plan?"

"Not as of yet. I'll make it up later, when Eggman's giving his big speech on how he plans to 'defeat' me. It's no big deal, Tails, I do this all the time, and you know it."

"I know, it's just…" Tails fell silent for another moment. "Something about all of this doesn't sit well with me anymore. Given everything that's happened…I don't know. I don't know what to expect anymore. I guess I'm just worried there's some curve ball somewhere in this entire mess still that's about to hit us when we least expect it."

Sonic suddenly skidded to a halt the same time the forest suddenly ended. "Well, I guess we're about to find out," he remarked into the phone, looking out at the skyline of Empire City that now stood before him with Eggman's ship hovering over it, "Because I just arrived." He grinned. "And now it's time to scramble some eggs."


	14. Scrambled Eggs

Setting aside the rogues for a moment, Sonic and Eggman battle it out. Despite appearances, the chapter is still relevant to the story (somewhat), and I think you'll catch on to what I mean by the chapter's end. :) Also make a lot of little references to other Sonic games, and one game that has nothing to do with Sonic (yes, I did make that reference. It was a spur of a moment kind of thing). Anyway, enjoy. :)

14.

Scrambled Eggs

"Sonic The Hedgehog! I hope for the city's sake that you sit down and watch the news here soon, because if you don't…well, really, who's going to miss Empire City? That's right, hedgehog. I just gave you a threat! If you don't heed to my demands within the next _three_ hours, I will level this city! And once I've done that, I fully intend on moving onto the next city and level _it_ too in another three hours if I _still_ haven't gotten what I want, so I highly recommend that you obey! My demands are this; you have something that I want, the Babylon Rogues! I want all _three_ turned over and surrendered _peacefully_ into my custody, with absolutely no tricks from anyone! Do this, and I will spare the United Federation of any unfounded grief today. I also want _you_ to keep your meddlesome self out of my affairs, or the deal is off. Again, I want all of the Babylon Rogues turned over to me in _three hours_ or Empire City gets it! _Don't_ be late, hedgehog."

Eggman listened as the message automatically played through his airship's megaphone and down at the city below, and nodded in approval. He had recorded the message and rigged it to play at regular intervals prior to coming here at Empire City, and intended to keep playing it until either the three hour ultimatum he was giving ran out, or Sonic turned up and ready to hand over the Babylon Rogues. However, Eggman highly doubted the latter option from the hedgehog right now. He was no doubt already plotting to find some way to weasel his way out of giving in to his terms, as he always did, but this time Eggman wasn't going to take no for an answer.

For once in his life, he was going to get his way.

No matter what.

He glanced at the digital clock that was counting down the milliseconds until his ultimatum ran out. Sonic still had an hour to make the deal. Eggman expected at the very least, something was going to happen before then at the very least. He was fully expecting the hedgehog, but he was open to other possibilities. He was in fact a bit surprised that the government hadn't tried to interfere with Eggman's plans yet themselves, especially from GUN, seeing that their relations with the United Federation were the strongest of all the other world nations, but thus far Eggman had been left alone. The only real major thing that had happened was the usual panic within the populace as the inhabitants of Empire City hurried to evacuate. The city was already mostly empty now. Eggman didn't really care. Even leveling an empty city would be enough to prove that he was serious with his intentions.

In fact, he was actually a little excited, to be honest. He had attacked many cities over the years in his constant struggle with that blasted hedgehog and his meddlesome friends, but hadn't really ever gotten the chance to level much of anything, at least anything bigger than say a vehicle of some sort. In fact, usually it was his _own_ property that was getting leveled, and not whatever territory he was threatening for a change.

And, as Eggman noted, scrolling through a pad of electronic information that lay in his lap, he's lost a lot of property on this caper already, much more than he had anticipated. This plan of his was proving to be a costly one. The things he'd do to get his way…

But the point of the matter, however, that unless something changed soon, he might actually get his big chance to carry out one of his threats for a change. Should prove to be an interesting experience. He was looking forward to it, and was secretly hoping Sonic, even though it wouldn't be in his character to do so, wouldn't show for whatever reason, just so it would give Eggman an excuse to attack.

It was then that Eggman heard the phone ring.

Blinking in surprise, and setting aside the pad, he looked around for the source, just to make sure it was really what he thought it was, then slowly pulled out a cellphone from his pants pocket, glancing at it, before flipping it open and answering the call.

"Hello?" he asked hesitantly into it.

"Eggman!" exclaimed an all-too familiar voice on the other end, "I didn't know you had a cell phone! When did you get it?"

"Sonic!" Eggman shouted, annoyed. "How did you get this number?"

"I looked up the phone number for your base of operations on the Internet and called there, and the robots there were more than happy to redirect my call straight back to you."

Eggman made a mental note to reformat the hard drives of the robots responsible for that.

"Well never mind that!" the scientist exclaimed loudly, changing the subject. "We _both_ have more pressing matters than this to discuss, so I'll get right to the point! Are you willing to agree to my terms?"

"Yeah, about those terms, Eggman…I don't suppose you'd be…"

"They're nonnegotiable, if that's what you're asking, hedgehog!" Eggman barked. "Now answer the question! You have something I want, will you hand it over?"

"Well, I _would've_, but y'see…the Babylon Rogues are a little indisposed right now, and couldn't make it. They send their best regards though, and hey, you've got _me_! I'm right here in the city right now."

"I don't _want_ you!" Eggman argued. "I _want_ the Babylon Rogues, and you _will_ surrender them to me soon, or I will _level_ this city to the ground!"

"Like I'd really let you do that, Eggman. I mean, _seriously_. C'mon, how long have we been doing this now? Five years?"

"Feels more like twenty, if you must know."

"Hah! I'm not that old, Eggman! _You_, on the other hand…"

"We're getting off subject! And the subject is that if you do _not_ give me _exactly_ what I want, I will _destroy_ this city, and everything in it!"

"Guess that includes me too, seeing I'm in the city at the moment, huh?"

"So much the better in my opinion."

"Now that sounds like the Eggman I know! C'mon, you've practically got me on a silver platter, and you're more interested in the Babylon Rogues! They're not _that_ interesting, are they?"

"What _I _find interesting is how very unserious you're taking all of this, hedgehog, because I am _dead_ serious about what I plan to do if you don't agree to my terms! I _will_ destroy this city in less than an hour, and not a minute more than that, if all three of those blasted birds are not safely in my custody before then! Maybe I should've picked a more important target to threaten to destroy, maybe _then_ you wouldn't question my serenity!"

Sonic sounded like he had paused to consider this for a moment. "Well, I gotta admit, there are probably a lot better cities you could threaten to destroy," he confessed, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like Empire City a lot, and would hate to see it destroyed, but…"

"Maybe for my next target, I'll pick a place like…uh…Spagonia! Or…maybe Soleanna, haven't ever threatened that place yet!"

"You sure? I could've sworn…"

"_I'm sure_! But if that still isn't enough for you, maybe I'll destroy Central City!"

"Oh c'mon, spare that poor city, at the very least! It's already gotten wiped off the face of the earth once, and they're _still _rebuilding…"

"Or maybe GUN Headquarters!"

"Like they'd really let you get that close, and anyway, I could care less about what happens to GUN, thank you very much!"

"Or maybe…" Eggman allowed himself a wicked grin, "…after I destroy Empire City here, I'll go and threaten to destroy someplace like _South Island_!"

This got Sonic's attention. Back in the day, South Island had been like a second home to him, and in many ways still was.

"You wouldn't!" Sonic challenged.

"Oh, but I would!" Eggman challenged back. "_That's_ how serious I am about this!"

Sonic was silent for a moment, and it seemed like he was genuinely ready to stop joking around and be serious now, and perhaps was getting ready to give in. This idea pleased Eggman to no end, because now it meant his plans could now continue forward without any more interference.

But as he usually did, Sonic surprised him. "Guess I should be serious about where I _really_ am, then," he commented idly.

Eggman then heard a loud tapping noise somewhere within the airship's bridge, and he turned around to look in the direction of its source. There, standing idly outside the room's corner window, was Sonic, in the flesh, with a satchel draped over one shoulder. Seeing Eggman looking, flabbergasted, in his direction now, the blue hedgehog cheerily waved.

"By the way, nice décor you've got in there, Eggman," Sonic commented, changing the subject again, "Finally been paying attention to our past comments about how ugly it all looked in the past, huh?"

Eggman merely let out a mad yell, and hurried over to the ship's master control panel and started typing in commands. Outside the ship, two nearby cannons turned themselves around to take aim at Sonic. Sonic idly watched the two cannons for a few moments, watching as the device positioned themselves properly and loaded their guns. He then turned his attention back to his phone conversation with Eggman.

"Yeah, look, I gotta go whip some eggs now, if you catch my drift," he remarked perfectly calmly, "We'll chat later, K? Buh-bye!"

He hung up, looked at the cannons just a spilt second longer then jumped up into the air. He did so just in time, because it was at that same moment the cannons fired, their shots naturally missing Sonic and instead impacting the side of the bridge, blowing open a hole in the enclosing wall. Landing on the roof of the bridge, Sonic skidded backwards a few paces, before running and jumping back off the roof and down at the two offending cannons, spin attacking them into oblivion before turning around to see the damage that the cannons had done to the bridge. It wasn't that bad, actually, and had only left a hole big enough that something…like a certain blue hedgehog…could fit through.

Grinning, Sonic sped through this hole and into the bridge itself. There, he saw Eggman just finishing to strap himself into his Eggmobile sitting in a docking station in the floor of the room. Acting quickly, Sonic sped towards the seemingly parked Eggmobile to attack, but it was quickly proved that Eggman was a step ahead of the hedgehog, because the Eggmobile proved to actually be docked in the top of a small, robotic, "attachment" that gave the little craft arms and legs. Sonic realized this the moment the rest of this completed armor rose suddenly out of the floor, ready to fight back, but by then, it was already too late. With one swing of the boss robot's (for lack of a better term) arms, Eggman had slapped Sonic off the ground, and across the room, smashing out one of the other bridge windows and back outside the ship.

Crashing down onto the sloping hull of the craft, Sonic skidded down the incline, struggling to stop his haphazard fall before it was finally stopped for him when he landed on the side of one of the airship's other, inactive, cannons, a surface level enough that it broke Sonic's fall. Groaning, Sonic wobbly picked himself up, still stinging from the blow he had just received.

"Okay!" he remarked a little dizzily, struggling to keep his balance and to shake it off, "Credit where credit's due, I did _not_ see that one coming."

With a loud noise of metal grinding on metal, Eggman arrived in the boss robot and joined Sonic on the side of the inactive cannon.

"Obviously!" Eggman remarked in response to Sonic's comment. "And just as obviously, I came better prepared for a fight this time, hedgehog! I hope you're ready to loose!"

"Bring it, Egghead!" Sonic barked back, gearing up for a fight.

Eggman made the first move by firing off a series of small cannons the boss robot housed at Sonic's position. It was a futile move, because Sonic quickly moved out of the way, jumping up and backflipping over to a small platform that ran along the side of the craft. Sonic then looked to face Eggman still back on the side of the cannon, but his attention was quickly diverted elsewhere when a hatch opened up behind him, and a small regiment of combat robots stormed out, turning their weapons to point at Sonic.

Sonic quickly spun back around and attacked the robots while dodging their attacks at the same time. Soon, the robots were all reduced to scrap metal, and Sonic landed on the other side of the platform victorious. Then Eggman in his boss robot smashed down in front of Sonic, gearing up to fire a missile into the hedgehog's face at near pointblank range. Acting quickly, Sonic jumped up and curled up into a ball, bounced off the side of the boss robot just as it fired the missile (and missed, blowing a hole into the platform instead) and back onto the sloping hull of the airship with as much momentum Sonic could muster. The moment he landed, he instantly uncurled and started running back up the curved metal.

Eggman wasn't about to let Sonic get away, however, and promptly started firing volleys of weapons fire up at Sonic as he ran, the blasts blowing fiery holes into the hull all around the hedgehog as he ran. Sonic dodged accordingly, but since Eggman wasn't in front of him where he could see where the doctor was shooting, there was a fair amount of guesswork involved. Finally, just as Sonic was about to reach the portion of the hull where it started to level off, one of Eggman's shots struck the hull directly before him. Sonic could only gasp and brace himself as he raced into the plume of smoke that followed the blast before feeling the sloping surface of the hull give way to air, throwing off Sonic's course completely as he plummeted sideways into the hole at high speeds, unable to stop now until he slammed into the ceiling of the room beyond and came crashing back down to the floor.

Dazed yet again by the unexpected blow, Sonic rubbed at his sore forehead for a moment, double checked to make sure he wasn't seriously injured in some way (and thankfully wasn't), before picking himself up and looking around. It seemed he was in some kind of storage room, as there were shelves upon shelves filled with various tools and equipment Eggman might need at any given moment. Sonic got no further in his investigation when Eggman in his boss robot reappeared outside the hole that had been blown in the storage room's wall, and the boss robot started shooting into the room itself.

Quickly, Sonic ran away, heading deeper into the room, dodging as quickly as he could as the shots tore up the room, scattering debris everywhere. Finally, he spied a sealed door that had to lead out of the room, and curling up into a ball, spin-dashed the door open and raced out into the hallway beyond. The hallway ran along the length of the airship, sitting just behind the outer hull of the ship, as evidenced by the fact that the walls occasionally gave way to windows looking outside the ship. Sonic was able to run down this hallway for a good while, before the hand of the boss robot suddenly smashed through one windowed wall and attempted to grab Sonic.

Sonic was just barely able to slip through its metallic grasp and hurry onward down the hallway, but he knew Eggman would just try again until he ran out of hallway. Sonic hoped the hallway would run out first, but unfortunately it didn't, and again the boss robot's hand smashed through the walls of the hallway. This time, Eggman's aim was better and the hand smashed through just ahead of Sonic, and was quickly able to snatch up the hedgehog.

Arms and legs pinned and trapped by the hand's grasp, Sonic couldn't do much as the hand pulled Sonic out of the hallway and where its operator in its cockpit could see him. Pushing off from the side of the airship, the boss robot then activated a jetpack Sonic had failed to notice it had before now, and flew _away_ from the airship for several feet. Just as Sonic was wondering what Eggman was planning, the boss robot halted its flight and spun itself around to face the airship. Then, gearing up like a baseball pitcher about to throw a fastball, threw Sonic hard back at the airship.

Sonic rushed back towards the back portion of the airship, and saw he was going to come dangerously close to slamming into the spinning intake fans for the craft's engines, but even though his arms and legs were now free, there wasn't much he could do to stop or to change his course. Instead, his best defense was to curl up into a ball as if about to spin-dash and hope this would protect him from the turbine he was speeding towards.

Fortunately, he never hit the turbine, and instead impacted the hull just adjacent to the intake port and plowed through it and into the room beyond, slamming into a bank of computer circuitry that Sonic used to break his fall and bring him to a stop. Pulling himself free of the debris, Sonic stopped to look around. The room wasn't very big, and was filled mostly with computer processing equipment of all sorts. Only a small portion of the room was clearly meant for a person to actually be in the room. The rest was just filled to the brim with data servers. Sonic wouldn't have thought much of it…

…was it not for the fact that Jet's Extreme Gear board also happened to be in the room.

Surprised to see it, Sonic approached the board where it leaned against a control panel, hooked up to the computer via several wires, to make sure it was the same board. It had clearly seen better days, but it was unmistakably Jet's board. This puzzled Sonic. The last he had heard from Jet himself, the hawk's board was supposed to be somewhere at the bottom of a canyon in Apotos. But obviously, Eggman had recovered it and was now keeping it here.

But…why? What interest could Eggman have in Jet's board?

Then Sonic's attention was drawn to a pair of monitors that were positioned nearby. One displayed the words "Emergency Databank Backup In Progress" in big bold letters. The other had swarms of both textual and pictorial information washing over it, presumably being copied for the alleged backup. Sonic examined the information as it scrolled across, but at first, the information didn't seem to be anything that interested him.

But then a picture of Jet appeared briefly on the screen. It was quickly followed with pictures of Wave and Storm. All three pictures were accompanied with a lot of information on each individual member of the Babylon Rogues. And there was more, course data for the flight path of their airship before Eggman shot it down, intercepted radio transmissions, topographical map scans of the area of Apotos they had ended up in, simulations of the battle that had taken place, and more. It all blurred by faster than Sonic could read it, and a lot of it was sciencey stuff he didn't really understand, but something told him that this information was nonetheless important.

The computer finished copying the data just seconds later, and briefly flashed a message that the copied data had been transferred to "data disk SA2" before continuing on to the next batch of data. Sonic scanned the rows of computer banks before he found the disk labeled "SA2" and removed it from its slot to put in his satchel, figuring that Tails might want to look at this information. It was then that Eggman and his boss robot finally caught up with Sonic, and blew open the hole in the wall wider so it could shove itself into the room. Sonic winced as he saw Jet's board be crushed into pieces under the robot's heavy metal foot.

"Give up, yet?" Eggman demanded. "Because I can keep going all day like this!"

"Well, everybody needs something to keep them busy," Sonic remarked, folding his arms as he braced himself against the swirling wind and debris the nearby engine turbine kicked up now that the wall dividing the room from it was shattered. "Although, I really wish you picked your hobbies better!"

"Ha!" Eggman mocked, "Our rivalry is much more than a mere hobby, hedgehog! It is an never-ending battle to see who is the victor! _All_ of the legendary rivalries are like that! Like Holmes verses Molarity! Aristotle verses…"

"Mashy spike plate!" Sonic suddenly exclaimed, and ducked.

Eggman turned in time to see a broken and jagged ceiling plate come loose in all the turbulence that had been kicked up in and slam into the boss robot, overbalancing it. Stumbling off its feet, its flailing arms slamming into things and dealing the room more damage as it went, the robot tumbled back out the hole in the wall it had made. Acting quickly, Eggman thumbed a switch, and the boss robot's jetpack kicked in, and kept it from falling further.

"Ha!" Eggman exclaimed again in victory. "Defeat won't come so easily to me, I've planned for every eventuality!"

But Sonic was more interested in the plate that had slammed into the boss robot. Caught in the vortex of the engine intake, it was nearly sucked into the turbine, but was just barely able to escape it by bouncing off the spinning blade with a shower of sparks before falling down towards the ground far below. From that, Sonic suddenly got an idea. Curling into a ball, he spin-dashed at the boss robot suddenly. Eggman reacted by whacking the hedgehog back with one of the robots arms, only to have Sonic to bounce off the other wall and come spinning back at the boss robot. The process was then repeated.

"Now you're just wasting my time!" Eggman complained as he worked to constantly knock Sonic's spin-dashes back from him. "My robot's armor is made of the strongest metals I can create! You can't pierce it with your pathetic attacks, hedgehog!"

But then Sonic suddenly slipped through Eggman's attempts to block the spin-dashes, and smashed off the side of the robot's right arm, and then right through the _unprotected_ glass dome of Eggman's Eggmobile cockpit, narrowly missing the doctor himself. Zooming straight through the shattering dome like a hot knife through butter, Sonic suddenly uncurled himself and latched his hands onto the back of the cockpit, just above the boss robot's jetpack.

"Wasn't aiming for the armor, duh!" Sonic exclaimed back, as he grabbed a certain exposed wire that connected the Eggmobile with the boss robot and yanked at it until it severed itself.

With a jolt, the jetpack on the boss robot failed and the robot dropped like a stone. Sonic quickly jumped off it and back into the ruined computer room as it fell, but Eggman, still strapped into the robot, quickly scrambled to regain control as the robot fell a few short feet before it was being sucked into the intake of the engine turbine. Eggman quickly had the boss robot to use its still functioning arms to grab something to slow its fall, but it was clear he was only prolonging the inevitable. The robot was going to be sucked into the larger turbine.

Seeing his goal accomplished, Sonic turned and spin-dashed the door leading in and out of the computer room and hurried on down the hallway beyond and deeper into the ship. Eggman, meanwhile, struggled to try and save the boss robot, but without its jetpack, it was a lost cause. With the robot's grip slipping, Eggman finally gave up, and quickly ejected the controlling Eggmobile from the boss robot and flew it to safety. Going limp, the boss robot was promptly sucked into the spinning blades of the turbine, and with a cacophonous shriek of grinding metal, the turbine chewed up the boss robot before the too-large object ground the turbine to a forced stop. The strain caused the rest of the engine to overload, and to blow.

The remaining engine not having sufficient power to maintain level flight, the whole ship began to list and veer off to one side, slowly pointing downward in a crash course. Alarmed, Eggman decided he better get back to the craft's bridge. Quickly flying the Eggmobile back along the length of the sinking craft, he flew the Eggmobile back through the hole in its side that had been blasted there earlier and into the room, moving the craft as fast as he dared for its landing port.

About then Sonic came bursting through the bridge door and spin-dashed into the side of the Eggmobile. He bounced off it, but still did enough damage that the already-damaged Eggmobile failed and crashed into the floor and skidded across the rest of the length of the bridge until it slammed into the master control panel and crushed it, destroying the controls.

"Gah!" Eggman exclaimed in a panic, trying to restart the Eggmobile, but it refused to respond. "What have you done you stupid pincushion?"

"Knowing you, at the very least slow you down," Sonic remarked idly as he hurried over, jumped over the crashed Eggmobile, and smashed through the cracked forward viewport and onto the front nose of the massive airship.

By this point in time, the airship was clearly about to crash. Brushing briefly against a skyscraper, the craft continued to veer downward to slam into the nearby bay of water next to Empire City. Nothing stood in its way save one suspension bridge, left vacant in the evacuation of the city. The bridge probably wasn't going to survive the crash, but for Sonic, it would survive just long enough. Running down the nose of the crashing airship, Sonic jumped from the nose to land on top of the bridge's support towers, then promptly started running down the large cable that connected the two pairs of support towers. He got about as far as halfway down the cable, right about where it arched down to its lowest point before the crashing airship impacted the support towers Sonic had just left, making them crumble.

The cables jerking violently, Sonic quickly jumped off the cables before he was jerked off and down to the pavement below and continued running, _away_ from the crashing airship. Now it was a race to see if Sonic could get off the bridge before the airship smashed into it and crushed it. It came very close, the airship grinding down on to the pavement street that stretched across the bridge's length, snapping cables as the bridge already started to buckle. The ship nearly mowed Sonic, even though he was already increasing his speed to break the sound barrier, and it probably would've, had Sonic passed by the second set of support towers that held the bridge up. Acting like a barrier, the airship slammed into these and was brought to a halt, finally settling on top of the bridge.

The bridge didn't hold up the large airship for a second, though.

With an almighty crashing and crumbling sound, the bridge buckled, taking its support towers (or what remained of them) with it as it plunged into the watery bay below. The crashed airship dropped down with it and promptly started to sink. A few final explosions ripped through the hull of the mangled wreck before it slipped, sparking with energy, under water. Sonic, having safely reached solid ground again, stopped to watch, breathing heavily, forced to admit that was a very close call, even for him.

But before the surface of the water had even finished settling, Eggman in his damaged, but for the moment functional again, Eggmobile, burst out of the water and rose into the sky.

"This isn't over, hedgehog!" Eggman vowed as he flew off to escape. "Just you wait until I get another battleship! You _know_ I have a lot of them! And I'm going to use it to carry out my original threat _as promised_, only now the target has changed to South Island! So unless you want to kiss that little hunk of rock goodbye, you'd best _seriously_ consider stop trying to protect those criminal birds and turn the Babylon Rogues over to me!"

And with that, he flew off, and was gone. Sonic stared after him, realizing that the situation hadn't improved.

Then Sonic suddenly remembered data disk SA2 that he had grabbed off of Eggman's airship before it crashed, and pulled it out, still intact, from his satchel.

Well, the situation hadn't improved _much_, at least.

Sonic turned and started running, heading back to Tail's workshop. Something told him that the answers they needed was on this disk, so he had better get it to someone who can make use of it the best.


	15. Data Disk SA2

So what is Data Disk SA2? Well, if you add "-onic" to the "S" and "-dventure" to the "A"... :P

Seriously, though, this is a very serious and dark chapter as things seem to be continually going from bad to worse FYI, although a little light is shed towards the end of the chapter.

15.

Data Disk SA2

By the time Sonic returned, the sun was starting to set, and dusk was settling upon the Mystic Ruins. For the first time, Sonic had to stop and think about just how long and eventful of a day it had been. Not to mention a bad day. Sonic would've said that he was ready for it to be over, if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't think it was going to be a much better day tomorrow either. In fact, it was probably going to be a long night that awaited him too, as everybody worked late to try and find solutions to their problems, as well as no doubt continue to combat Eggman as he strove so uncharacteristically desperately to obtain something that, quite honestly to Sonic, didn't seem worth it. Before, when it was just a question of revenge, Sonic could believe that was all Eggman wanted from the Babylon Rogues.

But now, with Eggman's continued and increasingly violent attempts to achieve this _one_ goal, Sonic seriously had to wonder if there was an ulterior motive behind all of this.

He chased those thoughts from his mind as he arrived at Tails's workshop and let himself in without announcement as he usually did. Trying to ponder the dilemma on his own with what little information he knew wasn't going to get him anywhere, and besides, there could be bigger things he needed to focus on. Although he hoped there wouldn't be. As much as he hated to admit it, he was feeling tired from the day's events, and he wasn't sure if he could continue handling these constant issues without some kind of break soon. He could only hope Tails and the others had made some kind of breakthrough while he was gone.

But the moment he stepped into the underground workroom, he saw that wasn't likely.

It seemed every one of the usual writing surfaces Tails had in his workshop had been taken by Jet and filled to every last corner with his mysterious insights of knowledge, and had now resorted to using things such as the surfaces of worktables and the metallic sides of machines. At the moment, however, Jet wasn't actually writing anything, and was instead hovering in the air with his flight power, curled into a ball and holding his head painfully. He seemed as awake as ever, but his body looked quite worn down and exhausted now, no doubt due to the fact that Jet could no longer sleep. Sonic realized with a start that they were dangerously running out of time.

Everyone else didn't look much better. Storm, at the very least, had fallen asleep in a chair, and now the large albatross was blissfully snoozing, and was probably deserved it. The others weren't so lucky, however. Wave sat in another chair, a tablet computer sitting in her lap suggesting that she had been busy working, but she wasn't anymore. Instead, she was watching Jet closely with a look of worry etched on her face. She looked absolutely drained, but it was the expression of fear and hurt she wore that caught Sonic's. He had never seen the likes of such an expression on Wave before.

Tails didn't look much better, still trying to puzzle out the complicated equations Jet had written, struggling to fight off increasing tiredness, rubbing at his eyes frequently as he struggled to focus on his work. It looked like he had made some more progress, but clearly still didn't have the solution. Sonic worried that the young fox just simply wouldn't be able to continue focusing on the equations for much longer before his tired body insisted on getting some rest. Knuckles, on the other hand, being the freshest of them all, had fared better, but even he seemed worn down a little as he flipped through his own notebook of notes, the pages covered with symbols Sonic recognized as letters of the Babylonian language Jet had mysteriously started speaking and writing.

And as he drew closer to the group, he realized why Knuckles was so preoccupied flipping through his notes, because Sonic started to hear Jet mumbling very softly in the language of his ancestors, meaningless to Sonic, as he wasn't the least bit fluent in the language. He silently joined the group without anyone noticing he was there for a moment, looking around, before looking up at Jet.

"What's he saying?" he asked suddenly.

Everyone jolted in surprise save Jet and Storm and looked in the blue hedgehog's direction.

"Sonic, you're back!" Tails proclaimed, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, I'm back," Sonic said, shrugging off this detail for the moment to focus on the matter at hand. "What's Jet saying? Knuckles?"

Knuckles flipped a few more times through his notebook before he sighed, and threw his arms into the air in apparent frustration. This made Sonic worried.

"Don't you know?" he asked, fearing that maybe Jet had started speaking some new language _none_ of them could translate, and if so, knew they were _really_ sunk.

But Knuckles shook his head. "Oh, I know what he's saying just fine," he explained. "I've been working at teaching myself to learn how to speak Ancient Babylonian long enough now that I can more or less follow along now. It's just…" he sighed again, "…at the moment, what he's saying just doesn't make any sense. To me, he's just muttering random words. None of it seems to connect."

"We think he's gotten to the point where he's gained more knowledge than he can process," Tails explained in a worried tone. "Remember when Wave said we weren't sure if Jet's brain could handle all of this new information he's been gaining? Well, that's rapidly starting to become a reality."

"If it doesn't stop soon, that hawk's going to fry his own brain here soon, according to what they've told me," Knuckles remarked grumpily.

"Fry his brain?" Sonic repeated, getting a vivid picture in his head of Jet's head suddenly bursting into flames.

"More like a total system failure," Wave explained, having forced her attention back to her work. "All that information is going to start crowding out everything else in Jet's brain because there is simply not enough room, and that's going to slowly start to create brain damage."

"Once it does, any damage done will be irreparable," Tails explained. "And as the damage adds up, the more Jet's brain is going to fail. At the rate things are going…" he sighed solemnly, "Jet could become brain dead before the rest of his body fails him."

"Brilliant," Sonic muttered darkly, "As if we didn't already have enough to worry about. What the heck is happening to him that's causing all this, anyway? First it was just a matter of these flight powers causing trouble, but now it's just killing him in seemingly anyway possible!"

"No joke!" Wave suddenly snapped. "Jet's also starting to starve! He lost his appetite a few hours ago, and his entire gastrointestinal tract simply _shut down_ for reasons we can't explain. Now he's not even getting anymore nourishment for his already drained body." She suddenly cursed and hurled the tablet computer she had across the room where it smashed to floor. "I hate this! He's just dying while we can only sit here and _watch_! And I HATE IT!"

She let out an angry roar of frustration that echoed loudly across the massive chamber, waking Storm out of his nap. Panting, Wave listened to her shout reverb around before with a groan she dropped to her knees and stared at the floor with a blank expression. Silence fell in the room for a long moment as everyone stared at her, momentarily caught off guard. Somebody could've said something in acknowledgement to the outburst, but when Sonic finally broke the silence, he did it like the outburst hadn't happened.

"You must have figured out some kind of solution by now," Sonic said to Tails.

But Tails could only shake his head. "I'm sorry, Sonic," he said, "but I've got nothing. The best plan I have still is the Chaos Emerald, which still hasn't gotten here, by the way. And the Chaos Emerald isn't even a permanent solution either. It's only, at best, just a means to buy us more time to work. It won't fix the problem." He hesitated then added, "In fact, I truthfully have to acknowledge that it might only prolong the inevitable."

Sonic was silent for a moment, trying to process this grim news, to find a way to shed light on a dark situation. He failed. "What about Jet's equations?" he asked. "Surely there must be something there we can use to fix this."

"There probably is," Tails admitted, "But Sonic, Jet has been cranking out more revolutionary information than any one person has ever done in one lifetime in a single _day_, and he's probably got much more stuffed in his head right now as we speak. It's clear to me that Jet probably has more knowledge about the universe now than anybody else on this planet _combined_. Do you realize how much information that is? Even if the solution we need is out there, it's going to take _years_ to find it, and probably years more to even figure out how it works! And we don't have years!"

"We probably don't even have _days_ to figure this out," Knuckles murmured softly.

Storm rose quietly from the chair he had been sleeping in and joined the conversation. "Is the boss really going to die?" he asked innocently.

Tails opened his mouth to answer, but trailed off before he even began, and ended up saying nothing. He didn't really need to. The answer to that question was already quite obvious. Another solemn silence followed that only intensified the graves situation they were in. It made Sonic feel terrible. It didn't help that the extreme silence made Jet's random mumblings in another language seem suddenly very loud. The hawk didn't seem to be aware of the conversation taking place about him. Sonic found he had to pity his rival for what felt like the first time as the reality that this might truly be Jet's final hours sank in.

"What about Eggman?" Knuckles suddenly asked.

The subject change was so sudden that for a moment, Sonic couldn't find an answer.

"Yeah," Tails said, picking up on the subject change, "We had heard on the news that his ship had crashed, and that Empire City had been spared, but not a word more than that. We didn't even have any news if you were okay, Sonic."

"Oh, I'm okay all right," Sonic assured everyone. "I'm just beat. In fact, I bet I feel as tired as you all _look_."

This got a weak chuckle from Wave, who was now leaning against the side of the chair she had been sitting in before her sudden outburst. "I doubt that. I probably feel ten times more tired than you do, Sonic."

"You certainly look like it," Sonic agreed. "Look, you all have been working now, nonstop, all day. You need rest. You're no good to Jet if you just wear yourselves out trying to find a solution like this."

"Unfortunately, we can't spare the time for that, Sonic," Tails remarked. "Every second we waste…"

"…is another second taken from Jet's rapidly decreasing lifespan," Wave concluded.

"But what about Eggman?" Knuckles repeated, turning to Sonic. "Did he finally give up, or is he still going to be trouble?"

Sonic sighed. "He's still going to be trouble," he confessed. "He escaped the crash and vowed to keep up with his threats until he gets what he wants. So we have another three hours, less actually, to give into his demands before he starts blasting things. Only now the target's changed." He paused, not liking what he was about to say. "He's going to target South Island."

"No," Tails remarked coldly, understanding the significance.

"South Island," Storm repeated, "Isn't that a little island out in the middle of the sea?"

"It's more than that to Sonic," Tails explained, lowering himself sadly into a chair. "He's spent most of his life there. He has lots of friends there."

"And lots of memories," Sonic added solemnly. "And Eggman knows it. Exactly why he's chosen the island as his next target. But I don't honestly know if I can keep him away forever. Eggman is really determined to get what he wants this time, and has made it clear that he's going to stop at nothing. And yeah, I can keep trying to fight him, and down his battleships, but…not even I can do that forever."

"And all of this over the Babylon Rogues?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah."

A thump was heard as Wave suddenly kicked the chair she leaned against. "What the heck does that mad doctor want from us so badly to resort to this?"

It was then that Sonic suddenly remembered the one thing of potential use he had gotten from his fight with Eggman. "I don't know," he admitted, as he reached into his satchel and pulled out the data disk within. "But I think this might have the answers."

Tails rose from his seat suddenly to get a better look at it. "What's that?" he asked.

"Data Disk SA2," Sonic recited from memory. "I got it from Eggman's ship just before it crashed. On it is backed up information on the Babylon Rogues and probably more. Eggman also had Jet's board in there too."

"Jet's board?" Wave repeated, also strolling over to examine the disk. "But why?"

"I'm guessing the disk says," Sonic could only suppose.

"Sai aie secundai?"

Everyone glanced up at Jet, who had spoken. He seemed to have snapped out of the state he was in before, and was now staring intently down at the group. Sonic glanced at Knuckles for a translation. The echidna glanced back and answered immediately.

"SA2," he translated for everyone.

"That's right, Jet," Sonic said up at the hawk as Tails took the data disk and plugged it into a computer for analysis. "Data Disk SA2. It might tell us what Eggman's up to exactly. Something tells me this goes much deeper than mere revenge."

Tails pulled up the data on the screen, and promptly sighed. "Unfortunately, it's all encrypted," he announced. "I can still decrypt it, though. I'll just have to run it through a decoding algorithm, but it's probably going to take a couple hours before…"

He was cut short when Jet suddenly landed and silently pushed past Tails to stand before the computer. Seeing this kind of behavior in Jet before and knowing what to expect, Tails allowed himself to be pushed aside, and he and the others watched as Jet studied the computer screen of encrypted data for a long moment. The hawk then pressed exactly four different keys on the keyboard before him. With a beep, the screen flickered, and suddenly all of the information was decrypted.

Tails blinked in surprise. "Or not," he remarked.

Jet then backed up and took to the air again to allow Tails at the computer again. The two-tailed fox quickly started scrolling through the information, looking for anything of interest. It wasn't long before he started to find interesting data.

"You weren't kidding, Sonic, there is a lot of information on the rogues in here," he stated. "There's lengthy profiles on all three of you in here, _and _your actions for the past _month_." He glanced at Wave and Storm. "It looks like Eggman has been following you guys for a while now."

"But why?" Storm asked.

"Definitely not for revenge," Tails said, as he continued through the data. "This is much too planned out for that. Eggman has some kind of plan, and it apparently revolves around you three." He paused, finding more information that intrigued him. "Now this is interesting…"

"What is?" Knuckles asked.

"This section has a whole lot of genetic information," Tails said, "Which is weird, because genetics has never really been Eggman's thing. Unless…"

Suddenly, Tails started to turn pale. Worried, Sonic quickly went to his friend's side.

"Are you okay, Tails?" he asked.

"I think I just figured out what Eggman's up to," Tails said, grabbing a nearby handheld computer and turning it on, "And if I'm right…" he trailed off, not explaining any further.

Wave glanced over Tails's shoulder. "What are you looking for?" she asked.

"The genetic scans I took of you, Storm, and Jet," Tails replied.

"But you said that the samples weren't finished being scanned yet," Wave objected.

"Right, the machine still has a few nucleotide sequences to process," Tails explained as he brought up the data he needed. "But the machine has already finished with the genes I want to examine." He paused as he displayed the information on the handheld computer, and then held it up for all to see. "Well…there it is."

He held the diagram of the gene in question up next to the screen that contained data from Data Disk SA2, currently displaying a gene diagram of their own.

The diagrams were identical.

Wave's beak unhinged. "Who's DNA is that?" she demanded.

Tails glanced at her. "Yours," he replied, before changing to the next diagrams on both computers, which also matched. "And this is Storm's." He changed to the third diagram. "And this is Jet's."

"Why does Eggman have data on your DNA?" Sonic asked aloud.

"Actually, it's just this one specific gene," Tails clarified, slamming the handheld computer down angrily. "The one Babylonian gene they all inherited and share."

"Babylonian gene?" Knuckles repeated, surprised.

"It seems it's a common gene for Babylonian descendants to have, but it's typically inactive," Tails said, glancing back at the information displayed on both computers before suddenly doing a double take and looking at them closer. "…except Jet's gene is active."

"What?" Knuckles and Sonic repeated together.

"_What_?" Wave and Storm also chimed in together.

Even Jet made an exclamation that despite being in Ancient Babylonian was clearly an exclamation of "what?"

"Is that what might be causing all this weird stuff with Jet?" Sonic inquired.

"That's _exactly_ what's causing it, it has to be!" Tails said. "At the very least, it's the first good explanation for it that we've got!"

"But _how_ did it get activated?" Wave asked.

Suddenly Jet started spouting out several long sentences in Ancient Babylonian, and suddenly seemed very agitated about something. He looked ready to leave the room for some reason, too, so Sonic and Storm had to quickly restrain him.

"What's he babbling on about?" Sonic shouted over Jet's ramblings at Knuckles.

Knuckles was urgently flipping through his notes, trying to catch everything Jet was rapidly saying at the same time. "Uh…uh…something about aura energy…?"

Tails suddenly slapped a hand to his face. "Oh, _of course_!" he exclaimed in a harsh tone. "That would explain everything! I'm an _idiot _for not having thought of that sooner!"

"What are you beating yourself up over _now_, Tails?" Sonic demanded.

"It's the aura energy!" Tails said. "It's what activated Jet's gene!"

"Of course!" Wave also exclaimed, catching on herself. "The gene's structure proves that only that kind of energy could do it! It would also explain why that same energy is so integral to Jet's powers!" She paused suddenly, realizing something else. "But… it would take a massive burst of this energy to cause that, more massive a burst than anything else we've seen, even the burst Jet released when he hit lightspeed. When exactly did Jet get exposed to such a massive burst of energy?"

"When Eggman arranged for it to happen," Tails said, scrolling through more of the information that was on Data Disk SA2. "Don't you guys see? Eggman _planned_ for this to happen from the beginning, he _had_ to have!"

"How do you figure that?" Knuckles asked, surprised by this accusation.

"Because I know of only one thing that could produce the amounts of energy we're talking about in one big burst," Tails explained coldly. "And that's when one of Eggman's hyperdrives overload and explode."


	16. Fight Chaos With Chaos

Picks up from where the last chapter left off. Sonic Colors is referred to right off the bat.

16.

Fight Chaos With Chaos

"I discovered it by accident back when me and Sonic were on Eggman's Amazing Interstellar Amusement Park," Tails explained, as he pulled up his records of the discovery on another nearby computer as everyone else gathered around to see, save Jet, who still seemed quite worked up about the matter. "It was when you were giving Eggman's "tour guide" our "complaints" at the Starlight Carnival portion of the park, remember?"

Sonic thought for a moment. "Yeah…right before that was when he used his mind control thingy on you, right?"

"Mind control thingy?" Wave asked with a curious expression.

"Oh, don't worry, we made sure Eggman won't be able to use it again," Sonic assured her, misinterpreting her curious glance.

"Well, while you were beating that boss robot, or whatever we want to call it, I was working with Yacker to try and get more information about Eggman's plans with my Miles Electric, as I'm sure you remember," Tails continued. "Because I was trying to adapt its scanning capabilities into a universal translator of sorts, it was active during the whole fight, and after it was all said and done, I discovered that it actually got pretty good scans of the whole fight."

"I see where this is going," Sonic said, while everyone else didn't. "That boss bot had a hyperdrive on it. When I downed it, it overloaded its hyperdrive, and it blew, right?"

Tails nodded, pulling up the archived scans of the event on the computer's screen. "When running through the scans, I noticed the blast released a lot of powerful energies of all sorts, even a little chaos energy. But the energy that caught my attention the most, partly because I had never seen it before then and was in such magnitudes, was this one."

He adjusted the settings of the archived scans to exclude all the other energies save one, that appeared as a large green blob.

Wave recognized it instantly. "Aura energy," she stated.

Tails nodded solemnly. "Only I didn't see the connection until now."

"So…let me see if I've got this straight," Knuckles said skeptically, "We're thinking Eggman purposely arranged for all of this to happen to Jet?"

"He _has_ to have!" Tails persisted. "All this is simply too much of a coincidence to it have been accidental!"

"But how could Eggman have possibly have arranged for Jet to get caught in the blast of one of his exploding hyperdrives?" Sonic asked. "As I understand it, that was all Jet's doing with the airship blowing up and all that."

Tails snapped his fingers. "There's a way to check," he said, and turned to Jet. "Jet, you're increased knowledge will help with this. Can you come down and input the variables for your airship's crash-landing on Eggman's warship for me?"

Jet nodded and landed before the computer, and promptly started entering in the needed data. He ended up doing better than merely enter in variables. He rigged a whole simulation which visually showed models of the rogue's airship crashing on the warship in question, before pausing at the spot where the airship had come to rest before blowing. The details of the airship's self-destruct charges appeared in textual form beside the image. When Jet stepped away, Tails viewed the data before nodding.

"Just as I thought," he said. "The airship blowing wasn't a big enough explosion." He pointed at the lower portions of the model of the warship. "The hyperdrive would be down here, where the explosion wouldn't have reached it. It was probably completely unaffected by the blast."

"But then, how did it overload?" Storm asked.

Tails got another thought, and went back to the computer that still displayed the data from Data Disk SA2. "There's a way to check that, too," he said as he continued scrolling through the data. "Sonic, you said Eggman had Jet's Extreme Gear onboard his ship, right?"

"Yeah, in the same room where I found that data disk," Sonic responded. "Although, I don't know why he had it there."

"I do," Tails replied, "All Extreme Gear boards have a navigational processing unit to keep records of their flights. Eggman probably pulled the information off of the unit on Jet's board just to cover all the aspects. Of course, the unit isn't very advanced and accurate, but for what I'm looking for, it shouldn't have to be." He then grinned suddenly as he stopped scrolling. "Here it is," he said, pointing, and opened the enclosed playback file.

The soft sound of static was replayed over the computer's speakers while everyone listened intently to it. The static was then suddenly interrupted by a loud electronic beeping and screeching sound that hurt everyone's ears. It continued for a moment before it abruptly stopped and then ended with a loud squeal and a final burst of static. Jet made an angry exclamation in Ancient Babylonian, and seemed more agitated than ever. With his intelligence, he had probably already figured everything out long before everyone else had, and was now impatiently waiting for them to catch up.

"What was _that_?" Knuckles asked, rubbing one ear with his hand.

Tails looked grim. "A binary transmission, containing an order to self-desruct."

Sonic blinked in surprise. "You mean to say that Eggman blew up his own _ship_ just to create that blast of energy?"

"I don't think the rogues left Eggman much of a choice by that point!" Tails retorted. "I'm sure his plan was to just capture the rogues, and then expose them to controlled burst of aura energy on his own time, but they proved more difficult to catch than he anticipated, and they were about to slip through his fingers. So…he acted desperately."

"But _why_?" Wave asked. "Why would Eggman want to do any of this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Tails asked, and motioned to Jet, "It's so he could get _that_ to happen! He must have known in advance that what we're seeing happen to Jet now would occur when he exposed one of you rogues to a large burst of aura energy and activated the Babylonian gene you all have! And if he could find a way to control it, to harness it…"

Sonic caught on. "Eggman wants all the powers Jet's gotten," he deduced. "The flight power, the increased intelligence, everything."

"That's why he wants you three so badly," Knuckles concluded, pointing at the three birds. "He can't conduct his experiments without you in his custody."

"And I think he understands just how much power he could get from this if his experiments are successful," Tails added, "So Eggman's desperate to get at it, willing to try anything to force us to surrender the rogues."

"Yeah, but we're certainly not going to do that now that we know all of this," Sonic remarked with a cocky snort.

"And Eggman doesn't know that we know what he knows," Storm chimed in.

"But what good does it do us?" Wave demanded, shaking her head suddenly. "If we can't undo this soon, Jet is going to _die_! And none of this gives us the answers we need!"

"Not necessarily!" Tails objected, and pointed to the computer displaying the information from Data Disk SA2. "Eggman's done a lot more research about this than we have, and most of that research seems to be right there on that disk. It might not _specifically_ have the answers we need, but information we need to piece one together could be! We just have to find it!"

"But do we have the time?" Knuckles asked. "With every passing moment, Jet gets worse and worse. He might not have much time left!"

Tails sighed, seeing the echidna had a point. "You're right," he admitted. "We need to buy ourselves more time, and to do that, we need that Chaos Emerald."

It was then that the doorbell to the workshop could be heard ringing somewhere above them. They all glanced upwards at the workroom's ceiling, as if they could see the GUN agent that was no doubt standing there at the door.

"Speaking of Chaos Emeralds…" Sonic remarked with a slight grin.

* * *

A few moments later, Tails was carefully placing the yellow Chaos Emerald they had been lent into a small machine, and locking it in place. Standing beside it, a cuff with wires streaming from it attached to his wrist was Jet, who seemed suddenly uncomfortable about all of this. The others stood around, watching, and hoping Tails's plan would work.

"How is this supposed to work again?" Sonic asked aloud, having his doubts.

"Chaos Emeralds work the way they do because they naturally contain an amount of potent chaos energy that is caught in a constant feedback loop within the emerald," Tails explained as he finished with the emerald and turned to the device's control panel. "Because of the naturally unstable properties of that energy, the loop causes the chaos energy to increase in strength, amount, and power constantly, until a near limitless amount of energy is contained within the emerald's unique molecular structure. Because of this structure, however, any energy that is sent into the emerald is caught in the loop as well, undergoing the same amplification process. Because of this effect, it can actually cause, under the right circumstances, a kind of power "vacuum" so to speak, in which it starts drawing in more and more of that energy that is being sent into it. I'm hoping to rig the same kind of effect within Jet's body, and give all that aura energy that is being pent up inside someplace to go other than to stay trapped within Jet."

There was a momentary pause. Then Storm piped up.

"Which means?" he inquired, not understanding.

Tails sighed, and tried again. "Basically, think of it as the Chaos Emerald pumping the aura energy out of Jet and into itself to hold."

"Oh, okay," Storm seemed to understand now.

"But where will the aura energy go once it's in the Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked.

"Theoretically, the Chaos Emerald's molecular structure should be more than enough to contain all of the added energy," Tails responded, "But to play it safe, I'm going to have a circuit connected with the emerald that will be extracting energy from it at the same time and discharging it safely into the ground. Think of it as like a lightning rod."

Jet suddenly babbled out a few words in Ancient Babylonian. Knuckles glanced at his notes briefly.

"He's asking if this is really going to work," Knuckles translated.

"I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't," Wave responded. "I've checked Tails's math, it's all correct. It _should_ pull all of the aura energy in Jet out of him as he's described."

"Of course, that won't permanently solve the issue," Tails reminded everyone. "It'll draw the energy out of Jet, yes, but no doubt his body will just start producing more. Hopefully, though, it'll buy Jet enough time to finally get some rest and recharge his body. The longer he rests, the longer we can put off a complete failure of his bodily organs."

"Giving us more time to find a more permanent solution," Wave concluded.

"Depending on how well this works," Tails added, "we might even be able to leave Jet connected perpetually, keeping the levels of aura energy in him low constantly until we have the solution. That would give us all the time we need, at the very least."

"Of course, I suppose you get the final say, Jet," Sonic remarked to the green hawk. "It's your body after all. Even though I trust Tails's word completely, we shouldn't expect you to. So, are you okay with us doing this?"

Jet was quiet for a moment as he considered this. Finally, he sighed, and nodded in agreement.

Tails grinned a little. "Then stand back," he told the others, "because here we go."

He activated the machine. The golden glow of the Chaos Emerald immediately brightened, and the emerald started to buzz as the machine did its thing, humming. Jet closed his eyes and bowed his head as it worked. The wires that connected the hawk to the machine sparked a little, but other than that, nothing dramatic occurred.

Tails grabbed a portable computer and started running scans on Jet. His grin grew. "It's working," he announced, "I'm already seeing a decrease in the aura energy."

Wave breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Thank heavens!" she exclaimed. "_Thank heavens and praise the ancestors!_ I _really_ thought we were going to lose you for a while there, Jet!"

But Jet didn't respond. His eyes had squeezed closed even tighter, and he was moving his head back and forth, as if trying to clear his mind from a haze of pain. He raised his free hand to rest hard against his brow. The wires connecting him to the machine continued to spark.

"Jet, are you okay?" Sonic asked, looking worried.

Jet responded with a slight moan, and continued shaking his head in pain. The sparking continued to increase. Sonic glanced at Tails, but the young kit only shrugged, and silently indicated that the machine was still functioning as planned. As long it was doing that, he didn't see any reason to stop. But then Jet suddenly hissed, and now both hands clenched into fists as he pressed them into his brow.

"Jet?" Wave inquired, worry starting to return to her face.

Something rattled across the cavernous workroom. Sonic twisted around to look in the direction of the sound. Then he suddenly saw an aura of light flash into existence around an empty glass beaker before shooting across the room like someone had thrown it. It narrowly missed Storm's head as it shattered against the wall behind the albatross.

"What the…?" Sonic began, not quite sure to make of that.

Other objects started to move across the room in similar manner to the beaker, all moving on their own accord it seemed. The machine now started to rattle, and the sparking it produced started to grow more violent. Jet suddenly cried out, and sank halfway to the floor, clearly in agony now.

"Jet!" Wave exclaimed in alarm, and hurried towards him.

But she only got halfway before an aura of light appeared around _her_, and she slowly started to rise into the air.

"We've got a problem!" Tails suddenly exclaimed, still scanning Jet with the handheld. "The aura energy stopped going down, now it's—whoa!"

He was interrupted as he started to rise into the air himself as auras of light appeared around him and everyone else, and the all started to rise into the air. Several other objects in the room were doing the same now, including Jet himself, but was held down by the wires that connected him to the machine. The wires weren't the only thing that were sparking now, either, because now the Chaos Emerald itself had started to spark, and was shaking violently. Jet's cries and yells of agony continued.

Sonic tried everything he could think of to get back down, but was firmly held up in the air by the aura of light that surrounded him. The others faced similar issues. "We gotta get down there and shut off that machine!" he exclaimed urgently.

Tails was working with his handheld computer. "I'll try to connect with it wirelessly and force it to shut down!" he said.

But then the rock wall beside him started to crack. The two-tailed fox turned to look at the wall in time to see the wall suddenly shatter, spraying sharp, stone, fragments in his direction. Quickly, Tails used the handheld computer as a shield, which worked, but not without the price of destroying the handheld as well. Now they're only hope for stopping the machine was to get back down and manually shut it off. But for the moment, they were stuck in the air.

By now, the Chaos Emerald and the wires attached to it were sparking to the point that long arches of energy lashed out at its surroundings, scorching whatever it touched. Jet himself was enclosed in a bright aura of his own, and was also sparking, although whether or not this was harming him was hard to say. He didn't seem to be physically hurt, but he was yelling in agony constantly now. The lights in the room were starting to flicker, as chaos ruled within.

Jet was now yelling at the top of his lungs in what was probably pure, blinding, agony, a shill scream that chilled those who heard it, as the aura that surrounded him suddenly flared up to the point that all that could be seen of the hawk after that was a ball of blinding blue-white light. Then as suddenly as it all began, it all suddenly ended as a shockwave of translucent energy burst forth, with Jet serving as the focal point, and surged outward into the room, engulfing it in less than a second.

As the energy washed over the equipment scattered in the room, it all burned out in violent showers of sparks. The stacks of papers containing all the knowledge Jet had jotted down were flung into the air, and some caught on fire from the sparks. Chalkboards toppled over and onto the floor, creating even more mess. Some of the bulbs in the overhanging lights exploded and went out. The machine suddenly spat out the Chaos Emerald, then burst into flames. The same time as the burst of energy, the auras holding everything up the air vanished, and knocked back slightly by the blast, crashed to the ground in ungainly heaps. Jet hit the floor himself and lay there limply, suddenly unconscious.

Several things then happened at once from that point onward.

"JET!" Wave exclaimed, and hurried straight to Jet's side the moment she had picked herself off the floor, checking to see if the hawk was all right.

Knuckles and Storm hurried over to a storage locker where there was a pair of fire extinguishers, and hurried to put out the several fires the final blast of energy had created, starting with the machine that had apparently instigated this.

Tails hurried to check the computers he had left running, seeing what was still functioning and/or salvageable, on the verge of a panicked fit, muttering several potential theories about the machine overloading Jet's newfound powers aloud as he anxiously worked.

"His heart's stopped!" Wave suddenly declared, also in a panic as she desperately pressed two fingers to Jet's neck. "I can't find a pulse!"

Sonic quickly jumped up and hurried over to the storage locked Knuckles and Storm had opened and pulled out a first aid kit and brought it back to Jet's prone body. Opening the kit quickly, Sonic pulled out a portable defibrillator, glad that Tails had thought to equip his workshop for any eventuality. But when he went to turn on the device, it wouldn't turn on. After a few seconds of switching it on and off constantly, Sonic finally realized that the burst of energy had burned it out. Noticing this, Wave didn't lose a beat as she promptly began chest compressions and CPR on Jet, trying desperately to revive the hawk.

"No, Jet, no!" the swallow muttered to herself as she worked, "We're not losing you!"

Suddenly feeling helpless, Sonic could only sit back and watch, listening to Wave's muttering and grunts of exertion as she pumped her hands against Jet's chest, and the hissing sounds of the fire extinguishers being used to put out fires.

Then Sonic heard Tails unexpectedly exclaim a vicious curse he had never expected the youth to exclaim before.

"Tails!" he exclaimed in protest.

But Tails only turned to face him, holding up a charred piece of electronics that Sonic realized with a jolt that he recognized.

"That blast fired Data Disk SA2!" the fox exclaimed.

"The data that was on it?" Sonic asked urgently.

Tails shook his head. "Gone."

Now it was Sonic's turn to curse.

"I've got a pulse, I've got a pulse!" Wave suddenly exclaimed, interrupting everything as Jet suddenly coughed and started breathing normally, even though he was still quite unconscious.

"Okay, let's get him out of here for now, until we've got things cleaned up!" Sonic suggested quickly at this announcement. "Tails, you've still got medical equipment upstairs in the living area?" When Tails nodded numbly, Sonic turned to Knuckles and Storm, who had finished putting out the fires. "Knux, Storm, help Wave carry Jet up there while I help Tails."

Knuckles and Storm quickly hurried over and each picked up an end of Jet's limp body and proceeded to carry him out of here, while Wave hovered nearby, making sure that Jet stayed with them. Sonic then surveyed the room for something to do, before spying the Chaos Emerald from where it had fallen after it popped out of the machine. Wondering if it was damaged, Sonic moved to pick it up, only to promptly drop it when he discovered the jewel was hot enough that Sonic nearly burned his fingertips, despite wearing gloves.

Turning to look at Tails, he saw the young fox had strolled out a few steps towards the middle of the room to survey the damage, before dropping to his knees, ears drooping.

"Oh Sonic," he muttered aloud, "I think I've just made things worse."

Sonic didn't have anything to say to that.

* * *

By this point in time, Eggman had been back to his base of operations and back, having gotten another warship, and was now flying it towards South Island by autopilot. While it flew, he reviewed his attack plans for the island, determining how he best wanted to level the island, should Sonic fail to come through and hand over the Babylon Rogues yet again. His planning was suddenly interrupted however, when the whole ship suddenly shuddered, and the power flickered momentarily.

Eggman looked up from what he was doing in surprise. "What the—?" he remarked.

A control panel next to him started to beep, flashing a message on its display. Eggman strolled over to read it. Apparently, some kind of shockwave of energy had swept over the ship, momentarily interfering with its systems. The sensors had analyzed it, and found it noteworthy enough to produce an alert about it. Eggman agreed with that assessment, finding the whole event rather peculiar, seeing that shockwaves of energy, no matter how big and small, just didn't sweep across the land on a regular basis. Something had to have created it.

So he decided to trace the shockwave back to its point of origin, and used the gathered sensor telemetry to figure it out. Soon he found that the energy had originated from a place that could actually play into his plans.

Because it originated from the Mystic Ruins.

Or, more specifically, the workshop of a certain two-tailed brat that Eggman knew.

It was then that Eggman realized he was going about this all wrong.

"Why try and get them to come to me," he reasoned aloud as he pulled up the autopilot controls and deleted the course set for South Island. "When I can just come to them?"

And with that, he entered in a new course for the Mystic Ruins.


	17. Mental Images

Another day, another chapter. Kind of a filler chapter to fit between last chapter and next chapter, and acts as kind of a bridge. Mostly characterization. Anyway, enjoy. :)

17.

Mental Images

"At least he's finally resting now."

Tails looked up from the fried electrical equipment he was half-heartedly cleaning up. "Huh?"

Sonic gestured upwards to indicate the workshop's living quarters located above ground from where they both were. "Jet," he clarified. "At least he's resting now."

Tails frowned, still angry at himself for what happened. "What do you expect?" he asked bitterly. "After going through what he just did, wouldn't _you_ want to rest?"

"Well, yeah," Sonic agreed, nodding, "But wasn't the whole point of all of this was to get him to rest his worn out body a little, before he literally worked himself to death?"

Tails sighed, seeing Sonic's point. "Well, it's more like he's been knocked unconscious, nearly lapsing into a coma, than going to sleep," he corrected as he yanked a fired circuit board from one of the damaged computers, and dumped it in a rapidly filling trash can. "But I see your point. He is getting some much deserved rest now." He paused, and hung his head. "But at what price?"

Sonic stepped over to the young fox and placed a reassuring hand on Tails's shoulder. "Hey," he said, lifting the kit's snout with one finger, "No one's blaming you."

Tails managed a very small and very weak grin. "I know," he admitted. "But…that doesn't change the fact that I still feel responsible."

Sonic surveyed the damage to the cavernous workroom again. "What exactly _did_ happen, anyway?" he asked. "I mean, the whole deal _was_ working for a moment there, with the Chaos Emerald drawing the excess aura energy out of Jet. What happened to change that?"

"Believe it or not, it was due to the emerald getting more power than it could handle," Tails said, jabbing a finger over at where the jewel sat on a worktable, cooling off. It was no longer hot to the touch, but still notably warm. "Near as I can figure out, the emerald simply got too saturated with energy and couldn't hold anymore. It was like trying to mop up a lake with a sponge. Eventually, the sponge just isn't going to be able to hold anymore, and you're left with a whole lot left over."

"But didn't you say you rigged a grounding wire to the emerald to bleed off the energy as it gained it?" Sonic asked.

"It wasn't enough," Tails said simply, with a shrug. "Think about it Sonic. There was enough energy there that it was more than a _Chaos Emerald_ could contain. We all sorely underestimated just how powerful this aura energy can be, especially as the emerald amplified it as it does with all energies it absorbs."

Sonic then got an idea. "Then is it possible that this plan could've still worked?" he asked hopefully. "We just need to allow the emerald to bleed off more of the aura energy it gained than before?"

But Tails shook his head. "It won't work," he said, and grabbed a nearby handheld computer, a spare that had been taken from a storage room upstairs, which had thankfully been spared from the burst of energy that fired everything downstairs, and showed Sonic the scans that were displayed on it. "I've ran new scans of Jet. The aura energy contained within him has _tripled_ from what it was before we tried the procedure with the Chaos Emerald. Part of that was due to the excess energy bouncing back to Jet because the Chaos Emerald couldn't hold it, but it's mostly due to the fact once the aura energy in him had been drained to a certain point, Jet's body started mass producing more to compensate. In seconds, his body had doubled its energy output, and all that energy added up. And it will no doubt do it again if we try this stunt a second time. If we allow the Chaos Emerald more chance to bleed off more of the energy, Jet's body will only further increase its energy output to adjust. No matter what adjustments we make, it will only speed up this process faster and make things worse still." Tails let the handheld computer drop to the worktable with a clatter. "And we nearly lost Jet this time. We try it again, and I fear that it _would_ kill Jet."

"The very thing we're trying to avoid," Sonic said, understanding. He sighed. "So, now what do we do?"

"What _can_ we do?" Tails asked back. "That was the only idea for a solution we _had_. We're back at square one. Almost literally, too. Nearly all of the research me and Wave had collected on our work with Jet that was stored electronically is gone. All that survived was only the early initial scans we took of Jet before we even really knew what we were dealing with. And we lost Data Disk SA2 and all the information on it, and probably our best bet of finding a cure with it. Sonic, we've got nothing _left_ to work with." Hot, angry, tears started to well up in his eyes. "And I made it happen."

"No," Sonic said firmly, grabbing Tails by both shoulders tightly. "This isn't your fault, Tails, and don't you _ever_ tell yourself otherwise. And I know you, you'll find a solution eventually!"

"How?" Tails demanded. "I've already tried everything I can think of! I've run out of ideas, Sonic! And we're nearly out of time already! Jet could very well be on his deathbed already! How can I possibly come up with a solution _now_?"

Sonic hesitated, scanning the workroom for ideas. "What about Jet's equations?" he asked. "That's something you still have."

"The stacks of equations written on paper got scattered everywhere in the blast and are all disorganized now, and some of them got burned in the fires that were caused by everything burning out," Tails argued. "And like I said before, the amount of information that's in those equations is _immense_. Finding a solution to this mess in all of that would be like finding a needle in a haystack the size of a _planet_. It'd take _years_, and even if I did find it, I might not realize what I've got, because I barely understand any of it! It could be staring me right in the face and I'd never know it!" He locked his eyes with Sonic's determinedly. "We don't have time for that, Sonic!"

Sonic sought for other options, but found none. "There _has_ to be a way!" he persisted. "Past rivalries aside, I'm not going to sit here and just let Jet die!"

"In all honesty, we'd need a miracle to find it in time, Sonic," Tails snapped. "I _have_ to be realistic about this. Before what happened with the Chaos Emerald we had a chance, but now, given what's happened, it may _already_ be too late! When the aura energy trapped in Jet tripled, so has the strength of his powers, intelligence, and everything else that's happening to him! You saw what was happening just before that blast! Jet can now apply his flight powers to other objects now in a form of advanced telekinesis, and who knows what else now! And as amazing as those powers are, they're only causing more damage to Jet's already strained body! He's probably already as good as dead for all I know!"

Silence fell as the last of Tails's words echoed faintly back at the pair in the massive room. Sonic seemed taken aback a little, and after staring at Tails for a moment, hung his head, sighing heavily.

"Maybe you're right," he admitted. "But it's not really very good of us to just give up."

Tails felt his heart melt. "You're right," he admitted, "of course, you're right. It's just…I honestly don't know what to do next, Sonic. And we just can't ignore the fact that there might not be _anything_ we can do to stop this, because it's a distinct possibility now."

Sonic was silent for a long moment. "Well," he finally remarked, "At least we know now what started this mess, and who's responsible," he said. "Eggman." He frowned. "If Jet dies, Eggman's going to pay. More than usual, I mean."

Despite everything, Tails smirked a little. "If it comes to that, I certainly wouldn't stop you, Sonic," he assured him.

* * *

Jet's mind felt like it had already burst from the stress.

Thoughts flooded the hawk's brain without control, pulsing aimlessly as Jet found himself metaphorically trying to swim to the surface, trying to keep his head above it all before he drowned in more information than he could ever possibly hope to process. It had long lost any significant meaning. Numbers, letters, symbols, images…it all flashed in front of him and was gone again before he could even acknowledge that he had seen it. He knew that the knowledge bouncing around in his mind was revolutionary, it had to be. But he couldn't focus it on it. And even when he could, he ended up spouting it out aimlessly rarely really understanding what any of it meant. Rarely could he use it to actually figure things out.

Now more than ever, as his brain felt like it was no longer holding back. It was as if it had its own plans that it wasn't letting its owner in on, and was acting without proper permission from Jet. He had lost the will to fight it. Part of him felt like there was no use trying to fight it anyway, so might as well let it come, even though he was more than aware that it would kill him. But he hurt all over, almost agonizingly so, and yet was too weak to be able to do anything about it. He hated that feeling. He felt restrained, grounded. He wanted to fly more than ever now, but to fly away from all of these grieves.

And if death was the only way to do it, then he welcomed it.

At least then he would finally fly free…

* * *

Wave sat beside the bed Jet had been stretched out in and watched the hawk's chest slowly rise and fall as he breathed. She held her own breath every time she waited for Jet's chest to rise again, fearing that it wouldn't, and Jet would be gone. He was already frighteningly limp and unmoving, and he looked pale and sick. He couldn't have long left.

Wave also felt terribly useless. Like Tails, she didn't know where to go from here. The cause seemed already lost, as much as she hated to admit it. Jet's body simply just couldn't put up with the strain any longer. It was nothing short of a miracle that it had lasted this long already. Part of Wave just wanted it to end already, so at least Jet wouldn't be suffering anymore. But another part of her just couldn't stand the idea of jet being gone forever.

Tearing up and her throat constricting suddenly, and not being able to stand sitting here and waiting for Jet to die any longer, she rose and rushed out of the room, downstairs, and out of the workshop entirely, racing down the makeshift runway that led up to the workshop until she reached the very edge of the cliff, with nothing but a mere pace keeping her from falling into the turbulent sea below. She breathed deeply the salty air, clearing her mind and letting herself relax a little, before sitting down cross-legged on the cliff edge, and looking out at the horizon.

By now, the sun had already set. Stars were already starting to blip into existence in the sky, but a faint highlighting of orange-purple still hung like a mist in the far west, providing a little daylight still, even though it was rapidly decreasing. Wave stared out at it, getting caught up in a trance of random thoughts as she pondered her situation. She was like that for a while.

She never heard Storm arrive until the albatross suddenly spoke, startling her.

"Whatcha doing out here?" he asked in his usual, gruff, innocent, voice.

Wave glanced at him. "I needed to get away," she admitted. "I just couldn't stand it anymore." She sighed. "But I suppose this is one thing that simply can't be fled from."

Storm was silent for a moment, fiddling with his thumbs, before finally making a choice, and sat down beside her, following her gaze out west.

"So what were you doing?" Wave asked, making small-chat.

Storm shrugged carelessly. "I was helping that knucklehead pull out replacement equipment from storage for Tails," he explained hollowly, without real emotion. "Then I saw you were out here, and came to see what you were doing."

Wave didn't respond, getting a slight chill from the flat words the albatross was speaking, but was nonetheless comforted by the fact that at least she knew Storm didn't feel any better about this than she did.

"So, uh…" Storm began again, "What will we do?"

"To do what?" Wave asked, not understanding. "What are we going to do try and save Jet now?"

"No," Storm said, "What will we do if…you know…if he…"

He trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it. Fortunately, Wave understood anyway.

"I don't know," she confessed, and paused for a moment before continuing with a shrug. "Continue on, I guess. But there doesn't seem to be much point to do so, without Jet."

"I think Jet was really the only thing keeping us together," Storm admitted, suddenly. "When you really think about it, we have never gotten along. We only stayed together because Jet told us to."

Wave realized he had a point. "Maybe," she admitted, "But I still want to think that, deep down, we're all still friends."

Storm shifted uncomfortably at this. "Well," he said, "I know you and I tease each other a lot, and call each other names, and are mean to each other, and…um…" he started fiddling with his thumbs again, "…well, point is that I think you're a friend, Wave."

Wave glanced at him, and couldn't help but grin. "There are times when you _do_ try my patience, Storm…but you _are_ a good friend, nonetheless."

Storm returned the grin.

"And I know that we both think the world of Jet," Wave added suddenly, turning to look back out west. The orange purple light had faded to a mere sliver now. The swallow sighed. "I don't want to lose him, Storm."

"Me neither," Storm agreed. "But I know you don't want to lose him more than me."

Wave glanced at the albatross for a moment, wondering if he meant what she thought he thought from that, but ultimately decided not talk about it right now.

* * *

It happened quite suddenly and without warning.

Jet wasn't even sure when it happened, but he realized with a start suddenly that the pain he was feeling was gone. Now it was replaced with an eerie, numb, feeling, and he still couldn't move, or in the case of his legs, even feel them, but it was better than the constant pain. Before he could even really figure out what had happened, though, the stress and strain his mind felt trying to process everything and simply failing also vanished, and for the first time in what felt like years to Jet, his mind was suddenly clear.

It was almost shocking to find himself suddenly capable to think of nothing at all.

He also found himself very tired.

So he let himself lapse into a deep sleep for a few moments.

It wasn't too long after that his mind started to wander, and Jet dimly found himself oddly aware of his surroundings, right down to every last detail. Then suddenly he found himself capable of sensing the touch of objects that were not near him, smells that were not near him, tastes that were not near him, and then finally, many sounds that were not near him, sounds which included clanking, the shifting of objects, footsteps, birds singing, the buzzing of insects, and most surprising of all, something that Jet found himself focusing his attention on the most, voices. Soon, as he listened to these voices, he found himself jumping from voice to voice, capable of visualizing the surroundings every person was in as Jet listened.

_"Man, this is tedious work. I know and strong and all, and that I can lift and move all of these heavy things with no effort, doesn't mean it's not boring as heck. This would go faster if I had more help. Where the heck is Storm?…"_

Realizing who this was, Jet turned his attention to another conversation taking place…

_"So what would you do if you ever had the chance to confront Eggman, with him trapped, beaten, robotless, and with absolutely no way of escaping, anyway?"_

_ "I'd question my luck, as that almost never happens, and you know it, too."_

_ "But say that it was, and you had Eggman right where you wanted him, unable to do anything to resist. What would you do?"_

_ "I suppose it'd depend on where we are, what's close at hand, and what's happening at that moment."_

_ "Say you're on one of Eggman's bases, with its reactor about to overload and explode destroying the whole place."_

_ "Hmm, I'd probably say to Eggman, "Lemme just flag something up: according to the control panel light up there, the entire building's going to self-destruct in about six minutes. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the light, I think the light's on the blink, but just in case it isn't, I AM going to have to kill you, as discussed earlier."_

_ "…you've been playing __**Portal**__ again, haven't you?"_

_ "And is there a problem with that, Tails?"_

Chuckling inwardly, Jet turned his attention elsewhere. But it was then that he heard something that caught him a little off guard.

_"If the boss dies…what WILL happen to the rest of us? What will we do? I certainly don't know. The boss always just told me what to do, but if he's not around to do that anymore…"_

This was quickly followed by another voice that caught Jet even more off guard.

_"Please, PLEASE, don't die, Jet. I wouldn't know what to do without you…"_

It was right about then that Jet realized that not all of these voices he was hearing was actually being spoken aloud.

But no sooner had he thought this that he heard yet another voice, but this one was greatly different from the rest. He didn't recognize this one, and it seemed very distant, _astronomically_ distant, in fact, so much so that it sounded like a mere whisper. Tuning out everything else to focus on just this one thought, Jet listened carefully to the whispering…

Then suddenly everything started to click into place.

* * *

Knuckles grumpily glanced at the stacks of boxes, all of them containing new replacement parts Tails would need to repair the damaged equipment downstairs, picked out the one he needed, and with a grunt, picked it up, and started walking out of the storage room and back into the small hanger in which the Tornado was parked, keeping an eye out for Storm, wondering where the heck the albatross had gotten to. He was supposed to be helping to.

He calmly walked past the Tornado and on to the staircase that would lead downstairs to the cavern workroom below, but paused and walked back to the Tornado when he realized something within it was beeping. Glancing inside, he saw that some of its controls were powered on and active. This didn't surprise him: even though all of the equipment above ground hadn't gotten fried, the blast still had played tricks on them, some equipment turning on without warning.

Knuckles reached in to switch the device off, when he realized what it was he was looking at. An active scanner, detecting an incoming object. And it was a big object. Even though it was still a fair way off, the scanner had already identified it.

"Oh no," Knuckles muttered aloud, setting the box aside. "Not now."

But there was no denying it.

Eggman was on his way here.


	18. Unleashed

And just when you thought things couldn't get any better... ;)

Apologies for this chapter being a little late. I have no good excuse other than I had finished with classes for the semester, had some free time, and obviously got more than a little distracted with other, irrelevant, things. :P

18.

Unleashed

From the moment Knuckles burst into the room, both angry and worried, Sonic sensed that something else had, or was about to, go terribly wrong.

"I thought you said Eggman was going to be heading for South Island!" he exclaimed loudly in Sonic's direction as he leaned urgently over the railing of the platform that led in and out of the cavernous workroom.

"I did!" Sonic exclaimed back, promptly spinning around to look up at the red echidna. "Are you saying that he isn't?"

"Not according to your plane's scanner doohickey!" Knuckles said, pointing back out the door he had burst through. "It shows Eggman coming here!"

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances quickly, and then both were rushing up the stairs to see for themselves. Sure enough, once they had all gathered around the parked Tornado, they could see the scanner sounding a proximity alarm as a small dot IDed as an Eggman craft closed in on the workshop's position. Tails jumped into the plane's cockpit and worked with the scanner's controls for a few moments to make sure that the scanner was working properly.

It was.

"That blast of energy Jet released," Sonic stated suddenly, already thinking ahead and looking for explanations, "Could Eggman have detected it?"

"I didn't think it was that _big_," Tails murmured, "But given what it did to my workshop, it's more than likely."

"It doesn't really matter now," Knuckles pointed out. "All that matters is that Eggman is coming _here_. He's figured out that what he's looking for is _here_, and he's coming for it."

"And he's going to fight to get it," Sonic added.

"So the question is, are we going to be able to fight him off?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, like I've said before, my workshop has more than enough defenses in place for an event such as this!" Tails snapped in defense of his workshop. But no sooner had he said it, he started to pale. "Only that blast of energy Jet released knocked half of those defenses off-line." He glanced briefly at the scanner again. "And there is simply no feasible way for me to get them all back online in time to fight Eggman."

"Try anyway," Sonic ordered before turning to Knuckles, "If worse comes to worse, we'll just have to see if we can fend Eggman off on our own. Think you're up for it, Knux?"

Knuckles thought for a moment, pounding one fist into the palm of his hand as considered the options. "Well, I say we've got a fighting chance," he admitted. "I mean, it's not like we've haven't beaten worse odds, right?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Sonic agreed.

"Keep in mind that Eggman's not going to want to stop and fight you two," Tails pointed out as he clambered out of the plane. "He's going to want to push both of you aside and go for the workshop and after Jet at the very least."

"I won't let him," Sonic stated determinedly, "Eggman has done more than enough damage already."

"Speaking of the rogues, we'd better let them know what's up," Knuckles stated.

"And at the very least see if we can get Wave and Storm to both help, better our odds," Sonic agreed. He turned to Tails. "How long do we have?"

"I don't have exact numbers," Tails stated, "But definitely much less than a half hour."

"It'll have to be enough," Sonic said, turning to go get to work on the necessary tasks to prepare, clapping his hands together briefly. "Now let's get to it. Nothing gets done unless you take action, you know."

* * *

Night had long fallen by the time Eggman arrived at the workshop. But he could clearly see that the animals that constantly opposed him were ready for him nonetheless as he navigated his craft up towards the seemingly small structure standing on its little plateau. He had long suspected that the actual workshop was much bigger than it looked, though he had never actually taken the time to find out. Until now, the workshop actually hadn't seemed relevant. In fact, this was the closest he had gotten to it since that incident with Chaos at Station Square. That certainly brought back memories, even though that plan, like so many others, definitely didn't work out as planned. Though technically he did eventually succeed in his plan in severely damaging the city of Station Square, even if it wasn't exactly how he planned it, and wasn't done on his order, when he was ready for it.

But he wasn't here to reminisce.

Standing side by side before the warehouse was the blue hedgehog himself accompanied by a certain bothersome echidna Eggman didn't get to see as often as he used to. They wore their usual determined looks, as if they believed that they were _really_ all that stopped Eggman from getting what he wanted. But Eggman was actually a little elated. He was actually expecting to be up against much more difficult circumstances than just the rodent rendition of the dynamic duo. Grinning, he thumbed the control for the craft's megaphone.

"Well, well, well, looks like I've got a welcoming committee," he commented aloud.

"More of an _un_welcoming committee, Eggman," Knuckles called back to the dark airship as it drifted over the shore and slowed to a stop.

"And hello to you too, Knuckles," Eggman remarked. "You know, we haven't crossed paths like this for a while now. So is this really the greeting I get from you?"

"I haven't forgotten our last _unfortunate_ encounter, Eggman," Knuckles commented coldly.

"We know why you're here, too, Eggman," Sonic added, also not looking pleased.

"Well, I would hope so, hedgehog!" Eggman proclaimed. "Even _I_ know you're not _that_ stupid! So, even though I already suspect the answer, I'll again give you the easy way out of this with your quaint little workshop of your friend's intact, if you would just hand over the Babylon Rogues to me."

"I think you should know my answer to that by now, Eggman," Sonic replied flatly.

He was being very serious about the matter this time around, and wasn't joking around. Eggman took this as good sign. It meant he was wearing the hedgehog down. Hopefully, he might actually give in sooner rather than later this time.

"Oh c'mon, Sonic, why are you so determined to protect those blasted birds anyway?" the doctor asked, taking a jab at the hedgehog's past history with the rogues. "It's been no secret that you haven't ever been on the best of terms with them."

"I wouldn't wish the fate you have in store for them on anyone except yourself, Eggman," Sonic replied, "And rivals or not, they are still defenseless and in need of help, and as I would _think_ you have learned by now, I _always_ help the defenseless and in need of help, _no matter what_."

"Time for a change of policy, then," Eggman said. "C'mon, I won't offer again. Just hand over the rogues so we can _both_ get on with our lives!"

"What makes you so sure we even have them here?" Knuckles inquired.

"Clearly you've forgotten that you're dealing with a genius here, echidna!" Eggman replied, "And even then, it doesn't take a genius to create a good set of sensors! I can detect the rogues hiding in that workshop behind you!"

At this, however, Knuckles and Sonic exchanged grins.

"What?" Eggman demanded, noticing their grins, and starting to suspect he had just fallen for something.

"Well, I find your statement funny, Eggman, that's all," Sonic explained, "You see, Tails lined his workshop with a special material that blocks all incoming sensor scans from seeing things like infrared and lifeforms. He made it specifically with your sensors in mind, Eggman, and has made adjustments as necessary over the years to insure that the material continues to work as desired. You shouldn't be able to tell at all where _anyone_ is in the workshop at all."

Eggman was silent a second. "Suppose I've adjusted my sensors to work around it without your knowing, did you stop to consider that?" he pointed out.

"And that's entirely possible," Sonic omitted with a nod, "But here's what I think. Tails explained to me that certain, high-powered, energies cannot be blocked by this material, and it _can_ be detected. But it wouldn't mean anything…unless someone knew the significance and to look for it." He smirked. "You're tracking the rogues by the surge of aura energy you're detecting, aren't you?"

Eggman gave no immediate reply. "Uh…I don't know what you're talking…um…"

"Oh, cut the act," Knuckles snorted. "We know about your plans to use the aura energy to reactivate the latent, inactive, Ancient Babylonian genes in the rogues in the hopes of harnessing the powers and knowledge that would produce, and that your attack on the rogues that _started_ this whole mess was staged to try and do just that."

"And if you wanna know how we know all of this," Sonic began, "does the name 'Data Disk SA2' sound familiar?"

When Eggman spoke next, it was clear that he was annoyed by this development. "I take it that my plan _did_ work on at least one of the rogues, then," he grumbled over the ship's loudspeaker.

"On Jet, yes, but because of your actions, Eggman, it's overwhelming him," Sonic replied, turning dark again. "He'll _die_ if we can't reverse it soon, and if he does, I'm holding _you_ responsible!"

"If the reactivated gene is killing him, then that makes it all the more imperative that you hand the rogues over to me now, before it's too late, and all of the knowledge we can learn from this will be lost forever!" Eggman argued. "Another chance like this isn't going to come along anytime soon, you know!"

"No deal, Eggman," Sonic stated flatly. "The Babylon Rogues stay with me, and I will fight your attempts to get at them like always."

Eggman frowned, as he started pressing buttons on the control panel before him. "Better hope you can live up to your promises then, hedgehog," he growled, as he prepared to attack.

* * *

"Tails, get ready," Sonic said into a radio as he watched Eggman's craft closely. "He's going to attack any second now."

"I'm polarizing the workshop's deflective armor now," Tails reported back over the radio from where he was in a makeshift control room he had hurriedly put together within the workshop itself, "That should keep most of the damage Eggman could deal to the workshop with his cannons to a minimum."

"Do we have any weapons to fight back with?" Sonic inquired.

"I have Storm manning the only cannon that's still operational enough to work, and it has to be fired manually," Tails replied. "Sorry Sonic, that's the best I can give you for now."

"It'll have to do," Sonic responded, watching Eggman's ship carefully, waiting for it to begin the attack.

He didn't have to wait long before two of the ship's cannons opened fire at the workshop from where it hovered. Clearly, Eggman expected to blast open the workshop from afar and avoid a direct conflict with Sonic and Knuckles that way. But that didn't happen, because the concealed deflective armor Tails activated did its job, the shots all at first surging straight towards the workshop before suddenly veering ever so slightly off course and missing the workshop, like the shots were deflected with a magnet. The closest any of the shots got was to graze the side of the workshop, scorching it slightly, but otherwise not causing any other visible damage. The shots all impacted the ground around the workshop instead of hitting the workshop head on.

Eggman didn't seem to take a hint, though, because he kept firing, but to no avail. The shots continued to miss the workshop.

"Everything still okay in there?" Sonic hollered into the radio as the barrage continued.

"Nothing but tremors knocking a few things over," Tails reported back. "But of course, we can't keep this up forever."

"Wanna fix that then?"

"I'm on it."

The channel then went dead as Tails switched to another channel, no doubt to radio instructions to Storm manning the one functional cannon. A moment later, the cannon could be heard extending, and then firing a thin red beam of energy at Eggman's airship. It nailed one of the craft's offending cannons, then the other, disabling both. Once the firing had ceased, a long moment of silence fell as everybody waited to see what would happen next.

"C'mon Eggman," Sonic challenged, "If you really want to win this fight, you're going to have to try harder than that!"

There was a moment of silence, then a doorway opened up in the underbelly of the craft, and out dropped Eggman in a new boss robot attachment to his Eggmobile, similar to the one Sonic fought at Empire City earlier that same day, only bigger and badder than the one before. Landing hard on the ground, the robot turned to face the pair, and promptly started to advance towards the workshop.

Sonic and Knuckles braced themselves for the coming fight.

"Now we're talking," Knuckles remarked aloud.

Just as Eggman opened fire with the boss robot's arsenal, the dup launched themselves forward, ready to fight…

* * *

The solution was right there in front of him.

It seemed so obvious now that Jet wondered how he had missed it before now.

But then, he did have to tell himself that he didn't think like that before now.

And before now, he didn't even think such a task would even be possible.

But oh it was possible all right. He knew everything that needed to be done to make it happen.

The only problem was to explain it to the others in terms they could understand. And to do it quickly, because he knew time was rapidly running out. He knew what would happen if he waited too long…although he wasn't entirely sure whether or not he actually wanted that very intriguing moment to occur anyway, knowing the possibilities he could gain from it.

But then his increased awareness of the happenings around him alerted him of a different event that was taking place, and was about to end badly…

Unless he did something to stop it…

* * *

Knuckles pounded on the boss robot's kneecaps harshly, the spikes on his fists slashing away at the metal skin that covered them, but was flicked aside once Eggman noticed the echidna. Tumbling to the ground, Knuckles started to pick himself up, but had to be pulled aside by Sonic as he sped past to avoid being crushed by the boss robot's metallic fist that slammed into the ground seconds later. Sonic then sped off with Knuckles in tow, the boss robot turning to watch them, firing its cannons at the fleeing pair.

"Would you two hold still?" Eggman protested as he fought them.

His attack was interrupted, however, when the workshop cannon Storm was still manning fired at the boss robot's exposed back. The shot grazing it, the robot jerked, then turned back around and fired in retaliation at the cannon. The workshop's deflective armor was still active at this point, but the angle was all wrong this time to deflect the shots properly. Two of the shots brushed against the cannon while a third slammed right into it, and seemed to disable it. Robbing the structure of its one offense, Eggman saw that now would be the time to strike. Ignoring Sonic and Knuckles, the boss robot stomped towards the building to attack.

Seeing the danger this presented, Sonic and Knuckles charged after the robot, trying to distract its pilot.

"You forgetting somebody, Eggman?" Sonic demanded as he spin-dashed at the robot's legs, but it was heavily armored that the damage the dashes weren't enough to slow the robot down much.

"No, I don't believe I am forgetting somebody," Eggman quipped, as he proceeded to direct the boss robot towards the workhouse, ignoring Sonic and Knuckles attacks. "The person _I'm_ looking for is in there."

"I mean _us_ back _here_, you dolt!" Sonic protested, seeking a surefire way to stop this new and improved boss robot.

When Eggman didn't respond right away, Knuckles let out an angry yell and threw himself at one of the robot's legs and planted the spikes on his fists into the side of the metallic appendage. The spikes sticking, the echidna started to scale up the side of the robot towards the exposed cockpit at the top. To buy Knuckles time to reach the top, Sonic sped in front of the robot, and attacked its legs from the front, trying to make it stumble. Eggman responded finally to Sonic's attempts to distract him by first trying to use the robot's foot to stomp on the hedgehog, but as that naturally didn't prove to be fast enough to get the hedgehog, started trying to shoot Sonic with its guns.

"You're only prolonging the inevitable, you know!" Eggman cried as he did this. "I _really_ can't see how you plan to stop me! You've been at this for the past five minutes, and all you've managed to do is make me mad, _as usual!_ Maybe you think these pointless attempts to stop me is helping you, but they aren't! One way or another, hedgehog, I _will_ get what I want, and I'll make sure that I—AUGH!"

His ranting was cut short when Knuckles suddenly popped up in his view and swung a punch at the glass dome of the Eggmobile, cracking it as the spikes on his fist pierced the glass. Startled, Eggman reacted without thinking, and commanded the boss robot to slap at Knuckles with one of its metallic hands. This ended up cracking the glass dome of the Eggmobile even more, but it also succeeded in pinning Knuckles to the front of the craft. With a wrench, the boss robot grabbed the echidna and ripped him off of itself and held it tightly in one fist.

"Ha!" Eggman crowed, "I've got you! That's one down, Sonic!"

Sonic skidded to a halt as he changed directions. "Not for long, Eggman!" he exclaimed, and charged the boss robot.

Eggman moved to deflect the charge, but Sonic fully expected him to, and took it into account as he jumped, bouncing first off the robot's shin, then against the thigh of its other leg, before bouncing off it's free arm and at the Eggmobile itself in a spin attack. Sonic smashed through the already weakened dome of glass and onto the craft's control panel with a thud, and without losing a beat, personally sung a punch at Eggman's head.

Struck hard, Eggman toppled over sideways in his chair, jerking the boss robot's controls in the same direction. The whole robot jerked to one side, leaning dangerously as it wobbled on its feet momentarily. It managed to keep its balance, but not before Sonic, also losing his balanced, toppled over and fell out of the Eggmobile. Quickly, he grabbed a handhold on the robot's arm that gripped Knuckles to stop his fall, but that only enabled Eggman to quickly grab the hedgehog with the robot's free arm.

"And that makes two!" Eggman proclaimed victoriously, "So much for your promises, hedgehog! Looks like the time has finally come where you simply _lose the battle_!"

* * *

With a sharp inhale, Jet's eyes suddenly snapped open and started looking around the bedroom he was lying in. Wave hovered near the bedside, and quickly came to his side upon hearing him awaken.

"Jet!" she exclaimed, and started speaking hurriedly, knowing the situation was currently an urgent one, "I was wondering if you were going to wake up, you've been stirring for the past several minutes, and I was starting to wonder if you were—well it doesn't matter, Eggman's out there, and he's…"

Jet silenced her by suddenly rolling over and grabbing her arm tightly, locking his eyes with hers in a very determined look.

_"Stay here, Wave. I'll put an end to this."_

And before it could fully sink into Wave's mind that Jet had just spoken without actually _speaking_, Jet had pushed himself up into a sitting position and was in the process of clambering out of the bed before the glow of an aura appeared around him and with a flash of light and a heavy blast of wind, Jet vanished without a trace.

* * *

"Now how shall I put you two out of your misery?" Eggman thought aloud wickedly as he clenched Knuckles and Sonic tightly in the hands of the boss robot. "Shooting you both at pointblank range sounds very satisfying at the moment here!"

But before the doctor could do anything, a loud bang was heard from the workshop as its front door burst open, drawing the attention of all three. Sonic was expecting it to be Tails, hurrying out to assist, but when he looked, he saw no one standing there in the doorway. It was enough to put Eggman on alert, however, because now the rotund scientist glanced warily around before glaring at his prey, as if believing that this was somehow their fault.

Then something in the darkness of the night moved out of the corner of Eggman's eye, and he glanced urgently towards it. It was already gone however, and before he knew it, he caught another similar movement on the other side of him, like something moving really,_ really,_ fast. It was the kind of motion Eggman would expect from Sonic…only he had the hedgehog right here in front of him, and if Sonic could somehow slip out of his grasp, he wouldn't be wasting it by playing games like this. Eggman sensed something else was happening.

But what did happen even he wasn't quite prepared for. First the controls before him suddenly flickered as their power flow was momentarily disrupted and then error messages started to flash all over the place. Then, before his very eyes, the robotic arms restraining both Sonic and Knuckles started to disassemble by themselves, the pieces spiraling around lazily in the air, until Sonic and Knuckles were left to simply hang there in midair, just as shocked as Eggman was.

More error messages started to pop up, ones Eggman was hoping he wouldn't see as Sonic and Knuckles were suddenly pulled backwards and away from the boss robot and safely down to the ground. Realizing that the boss robot was about to be lost for reasons he couldn't begin to account for, Eggman quickly ejected the Eggmobile from its port in the robot and started flying it back up to the warship still hovering above, where he figured he'd be at least somewhat safer from this new, unknown, threat.

He didn't look back once, not even when what remained of the boss robot suddenly exploded in a burst of flames and energy.

Instead, he focused on flying the Eggmobile back into the airship and setting it haphazardly down before clambering out as quickly as he could and hurrying back up to the ship's bridge. He had the idea that he would turn the airship around and flee now while he could. But it was already too late to do that. By the time he reached the navigation controls on the bridge, the controls suddenly went dark, quickly followed by all the rest of the technology in the control room. The deck under his feet suddenly lurched briefly as if a giant, invisible hand had grabbed the craft and was holding it steady.

Eggman looked around at the dead bridge in total alarm now, before every glass window in the bridge suddenly burst outward, the shards of glass slowing to simply hover just a few feet from their frames as if suddenly immune to gravity. Then with an unexpected lurch, Eggman felt his feet lift off the ground as he, too, started to hover. In terrified awe, he watched as his bridge literally started to disassemble itself neatly, bolt by bolt, the pieces hovering around the spot the bridge had once _been_ in loosely packed groups. Eggman felt his stomach sink while realizing suddenly that given what he knew about the situation, only being could be responsible for this.

And his hunch was confirmed when a portion of the pieces from the bridge suddenly cleared to reveal Jet, hovering there in mid-air, a brilliant blue-white aura fluttering around the dimensions of his body, and not looking happy. The hawk never once opened his beak to speak, but Eggman heard his words loud and clear nonetheless.

_"That is enough, Eggman."_ Eggman heard Jet speak eerily,_ "Since mid-afternoon more than two days ago, who have been a proverbial thorn in our side, and I will tolerate no more of that. You've caused enough destruction to private property, and enough harm to both me __**and**__ my friends. So it all ends here."_

Eggman was starting to form a weak retort in his mind as he hovered there, completely at the hawk's mercy, but he never got to say it as Jet somehow already knew what he was going to say.

_"Don't act so surprised Eggman. All of this is __**your**__ doing, you know. It was your plan to reactivate my recessive Babylonian gene that has done this, and in doing so, created the very thing that now has you at my __**complete**__ mercy. Ironically, you've done it for nefarious, evil reasons, but in reality, it is perhaps the best thing you could have __**ever**__ done for me. Behold the fruits of your labor, Eggman. Really still think this was worth your time and effort?"_ Jet grinned a little wickedly himself for a moment. _"But enough talk. I've found your presence bothersome. It's past time that you left."_

A new Eggmobile from the ship's hanger bay suddenly floated into view, and Eggman was unceremoniously crammed into its cockpit. Without Eggman touching anything, the little craft instantly came to life before Eggman's eyes as the glass dome swooshed into place, sealing the doctor inside. The craft was then turned so Jet could look Eggman in the eye, the hawk having on last thing to say.

_"So just GO."_

Then like a baseball pitcher gearing up to throw a fastball, Jet swung his arms, and the Eggmobile, along with its occupant, was suddenly flung far into the horizon, and was gone from sight. Jet calmly hovered there and watched for a moment, before turning his attention back to the airship Eggman had left behind. Releasing his control over the pieces of the bridge he had disassembled and letting them tumble down to the earth, the airship suddenly and completely shut down at Jet's command, then slowly lowered itself down until it rested in the shallows of the sea neighboring the plateau Tails's workshop was perched upon.

Once the airship was settled there, Jet turned around and back at the workshop. Standing there just before it was Sonic and Knuckles, absolutely frozen with stunned shock. Strolling up behind them was Wave, who was slowly exiting the workshop, no doubt having figured out where the hawk had gone fairly quickly, and was just as shocked by what she saw. And Jet could sense Tails and Storm were on their way there themselves.

Jet grinned friendly, knowing that he meant them no harm, and hovered down to the ground to land before them.

_"It is done,"_ he spoke without speaking.

And then promptly collapsed into a dead faint.


	19. Power Gained Nothing

Another chapter, that's also a little late, but oh well. Picks up from last chapter, and just runs with it.

19.

Power Gained Nothing

The moment Jet collapsed, Sonic rushed to the fallen hawk, Knuckles and Wave following on his heels. Arriving first, Sonic checked Jet over, and was pleased to see the hawk was still alive still, though his pulse was weak. He told the others this once they caught up, but Wave had to check for herself nonetheless.

"That little stunt must have robbed him of all his strength," Knuckles remarked.

"Not that he has a lot left to spare," Sonic pointed out, and stood. "We'd better get him back inside. Even with Eggman gone, I think he'd be safer there."

"Assuming he decides to stay there," Wave grumbled, but nonetheless started to work to pick up Jet's limp body.

She couldn't carry him very well on her own, but just as Sonic as about to assist, Storm turned up.

"What happened?" the albatross asked gruffly, surveying the ruins of both Eggman's boss robot and the crashed airship.

Wave didn't give him an answer. "Storm, help me get Jet back inside!" she urged, motioning to Jet.

Storm promptly moved to obey, but he wasn't about to let the subject be changed so quickly. "But what happened?" he asked again.

"I'll explain on the way," Wave promised exasperatedly as the two carried Jet, end by end, back into the workshop, "But let's focus more on getting Jet inside. Who knows what he might decide to ill-advisedly do next."

"You'd better restrain him then," Knuckles called after them as they left.

"I don't think that'll help, Knux," Sonic replied, and then turned to face the crashed airship, "But at the moment, that's not my biggest concern."

Knuckles caught the hedgehog's drift. "What _are_ we going to do with that thing?" he asked, jabbing a spiked fist at the airship.

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "But the thought has crossed my mind that there could be an army of Eggman robots in there, waiting to cause a ruckus."

"Same thought crossed my mind," Knuckles agreed, knowing how Eggman typically manned his armada. "But wouldn't they usually have come storming out to attack by now?"

"These aren't exactly normal circumstances, Knux," Sonic pointed out, jabbing a finger back in the direction Jet had been carried off to refer to the hawk. "At this point, I don't know _what_ to expect."

"Well, one thing is for certain," Tails remarked as he joined the conversation suddenly, working with a handheld computer as he strolled up, "I'm not getting much of anything from that airship. Power output is minimal, hardly enough to call functional, and there seems to be little to no activity aboard from my scans. Of course, the ship's armor could just be blocking my scans, and water is starting to flood the lower decks, which could also interfere with my scans. But still…" he shook his head as he stared at the downed craft before glancing back at Sonic and Knuckles. "So, uh…what _did_ happen?"

Sonic related Jet's actions against Eggman as best as he could to Tails. The fox was left with mixed feelings afterwards.

"It's astounding really," he said, rubbing at his brow in thought. "Even after all of this, Jet's powers are continuing to…evolve. And it doesn't seem to be showing any sign of slowing down. Who knows how much powerful he could get?"

"But…all that strain that it's causing him," Sonic interjected, "unless we can stop this soon, he can't have much longer left."

Tails nodded in immediate agreement. "He doesn't. But that still doesn't change anything. His powers could have doubled if and when by the time he finally succumbs. I really can't predict anything by now. I honestly thought his powers would've plateaued by now, yet they clearly haven't."

"Yet all that power doesn't seem to be doing anything to help save him," Sonic concluded.

A moment of silence fell about the group for a moment before Knuckles finally glanced back at the downed airship.

"So what _are_ we going to do about that ship?" he asked again.

Sonic and Tails glanced at it. Tails noticed that one of the ship's hatches was accessible from their level on the cliff, and he started towards it.

"Really only one way to find out," he settled.

He approached the hatch and started to unlatch it. Sonic and Knuckles both quickly moved to defensively to cover Tails just in case there was a bunch of angry robots waiting for them on the other side. But when the hatch opened, it was clear there was no such thing waiting for them. Inside the airship, the corridors were almost pitch-black and seemed completely powerless. Having had the forethought to bring a flashlight, Tails switched it on and started shining it around as he walked cautiously down the corridor, Sonic and Knuckles following him. It wasn't long before they came across the first robot, but instead of being active and ready to fight like they were expecting, it had collapsed to the floor and seemed deader than a doornail.

"Well, that's a promising sight," Sonic quipped half-heartedly.

Tails scanned it with his handheld. "It looks like it suffered a massive and catastrophic system failure and burned out," he remarked, furrowing his brow, puzzled. "Even its backup hard drive has been wiped it. Even if you did replace its power core, it still wouldn't work."

"What do you think caused that?" Sonic asked, glancing around for a possible explanation but not finding one. "The crash, maybe?"

But Tails shook his head. "The crash was much too gentle to cause something like this, and even then, the robot should show other, structural damage if that were the case. But no, it's like its circuits and internal processor just suddenly…gave out."

"Like Jet is going to if we don't figure out a way to fix this," Knuckles pointed out.

"Knuckles has a point," Sonic said, sensing that given how things looked inside the airship, their time was going to be better spent addressing more pressing issues. "Let's just hope that all of the other robots aboard ended up like this one and get back to our problems with Jet."

"In just a second," Tails said, moving further ahead, stepping over the disabled robot in the process, "I want to find a control panel and check the computer core. Knowing Eggman, he may have left some booby traps behind."

Seeing the logic in that, and about to be left behind in the dark, Sonic and Knuckles wordlessly followed. Around the corner they found just the kind of control panel Tails was looking for, producing the only other source of light to be seen anywhere as static scrolled across it's monitor. Tails promptly stepped up to it and started pressing controls, but they were completely unresponsive, so he opted to plug the handheld computer in instead, routing the controls through it. He worked in silence for several moments while his companions waited, Sonic impatiently.

"So?" he finally asked.

Tails glanced up, his expression blank, "Nothing."

"Well good, that means we can…"

"No, you don't understand," Tails interrupted, shaking his head, "There's _nothing_. No data. No images. No secret codes. No anything. The computer core has been _totally_ wiped of any information. It's like the core was all assembled but nothing of _any_ sort was _ever_ put on it."

"Okay…" Knuckles said, not seeing the significance of this. "So it got wiped. What's the big deal?"

"The fact that nothing sort of entirely _destroying _the computer, I know of nothing that can wipe a computer so thoroughly. There is always _something_ left behind, corrupted fragments of data at the very least. But here there is _nothing_ save one thing that only _increases_ the mystery."

"And that is?" Sonic inquired.

"The controls for the hyperdrive," Tails said, holding up the handheld computer. "Save that, the computer core for this ship has been _totally_ wiped."

"Well that's weird," the cobalt hedgehog remarked, rubbing his quills. "Why wipe everything _but _that? For that matter, who _would_ do that?"

"Think Eggman did?" Knuckles asked, thinking aloud.

"No, I think it was Jet," Tails said suddenly.

"_Jet_?" Sonic repeated, doubting.

"Think about it. Jet knew what this ship is capable of, probably better than most, given his increased intelligence. He took precautions to insure the threat was eliminated then, by not only ridding the craft of its owner and operator, but also by wiping the computer core of _all_ the programming Eggman had given it, nefarious or otherwise, preventing anybody from just coming along and making use of it. He probably did something similar with the robots."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged flabbergasted expressions.

"He can do that?" Sonic asked.

"Given everything else we've seen him do, should it really come as a surprise?" Tails asked, pointing out the logic.

Sonic looked nearly floored by this statement, realizing possibly for the first time, just how much power Jet had gotten and was able to harness. But Knuckles was thinking about something else.

"Why would Jet preserve the hyperdrive controls, then?" he asked.

Tails shrugged. "I don't know. As I see things, the hyperdrive is actually quite useless with everything else being wiped as it is. But I also have to keep in mind Jet's intelligence and understanding. He might see something in the hyperdrive that I don't."

"He's that smart?"

"Knuckles, I think his intelligence exceeds that of anything else we've ever encountered. It's bigger than me and Eggman's intelligences _combined_ no doubt."

Sonic looked at Tails for a long moment.

"Tails," he said awestruck, "Just what is Jet turning into?"

"I don't know," Tails replied honestly, sharing Sonic's amazement, "And I'm not sure what scares me more. Eggman…or Jet."

* * *

So Sonic decided to see if there was need for concern, and visited Jet lying back in bed inside the workshop again. This time, a handheld computer was propped up on a side table next to the bed, monitoring Jet's vitals. Both Wave and Storm hovered at the hawk's bedside. Sonic stood in the doorway for a moment, watching them.

"So how is he?" he asked finally. "Has he come to at any time?"

"Every now and then, but the boss keeps passing out again shortly thereafter," Storm replied flatly. "It's like he doesn't have the strength to stay awake for very long anymore."

"He has all of those powers now, but it has gained him absolutely nothing to help keep him from dying," Wave remarked wistfully and mournfully.

Sonic eyed the hawk for a moment. Jet stirred, but he reaming unconscious for the moment.

"I don't suppose he has said anything during the times he _was_ awake, has he?" he asked.

"Actually, he has," Wave replied. "Well, sort of. It spoke it without actually…speaking."

"Ah," Sonic said, nodding to indicate that he knew what Wave was talking about. "And?"

"Well, he keeps saying that he's figured it out, and keeps reassuring Wave not to worry, but the boss hasn't stayed awake long enough to tell us more than that thus far," Storm explained.

"So Tails was right then," Sonic remarked to himself, "There _is_ a method to Jet's madness." He paused. "How are Jet's vitals?"

"Irregular," Wave responded, glancing at the handheld computer. "They're constantly fluctuating, like his body is trying to support more activity than this, but simply can't manage more than brief bursts. More and more, his body is starting to shut down, as if it's sacrificing parts of itself to keep other parts alive. From the waist down, Jet's body seems completely inactive, in fact. From the waist up, however…" she shook her head. "Active for the moment, but I don't know for how much longer. His brain activity is off the charts now. I don't know how his mind can handle it. And the amount of aura energy in him continues to increase, to the point that he's practically entirely saturated with the stuff. I think it might be the only thing that's keeping him alive at this point."

"Any idea how long that gives Jet?" Sonic asked.

Wave glanced at the hedgehog, looking hurt. "Sonic," she began, "I doubt Jet will make it through the night."

A long moment of morbid silence filled the room at this as all eyes fell on Jet, fearing the worse.

It was then that Jet's eyes suddenly snapped open.

_"Wave! Storm!"_ he promptly exclaimed without saying anything like Wave had indicated as he attempted to sit up, but failed. He noticed Sonic. _"Sonic! Are we in the clear for now?"_

"Uh, yeah, we are…thanks to you, of course," Sonic replied a little hesitantly, wary of Jet's speaking-by-lack-of-speaking method. "Um…could you perhaps talk normally?"

_"No, anything I'd say would be in Ancient Babylonian, and that would only slow things down,"_ Jet dismissed quickly, clearly anxious to get to other matters. _"This way, with thought-speech, I can translate for you and get right to the point. But anyway, listen, I've figured out a solution to this mess, I…"_

"Does it involve the hyperdrive on Eggman's ship?" Sonic interrupted quickly.

_"Yes! Great, you're already catching on!"_ Jet said without saying, but winced suddenly, and his head started to spin. _"Look, I need you to…to…put…I…I…I need you to…you need to put me…"_

He got no further than that, because he finally trailed off and passed out again, leaving the group wondering what it was he was about to say.

* * *

However, in the cavernous workroom, Tails had gone back to work at repairing his fried computing equipment, realizing that the sooner he fixed enough computers to get back to work, the sooner he could work at finding a solution to the problem with Jet. But it was long and tedious work, and Tails wasn't making much progress, not helped by the fact that he was getting very tired, having not had any sleep since he went to bed last night. Still, he pushed himself onward.

His progress was so little, however, that the computer he had been working on wouldn't activate, and even if it could, wouldn't display anything reliable, as its hard drive was fried, corrupting all of its data. So imagine his surprise when the screen suddenly and randomly, without Tails doing anything, switched on, and text started to materialize on it. Tails watched in bewildered curiosity as the text scrolled down the screen before it suddenly stopped, apparently finished.

The text was mathematical equations, ones Tails recognized. They were for managing power flow distribution for specialized energy. The text also listed "x," the variable which stood for the type of energy, as a very unique frequency that Tails didn't _immediately_ recognized, but after a few moments of thought, recognized it as aura energy. Then he saw that below the equations were "required" technical specifications for what Tails realized was a hyperdrive of Eggman's design. But what got his attention the most was the fact that the whole list of text was signed with a name at the bottom.

And that name was Jet's.

* * *

"Okay, here's Jet, as requested," Sonic announced as he led Storm and Wave into the hyperdrive control room aboard Eggman's crashed airship, Jet being carried between them, still unconscious. "But I still don't understand why we need him down here."

"A series of equations appeared on one of my computer screens in my workroom, on a computer that was nowhere near operable and shouldn't have been able to display anything, signed with Jet's name," Tails explained as he worked with the only operable console on the whole ship, peering through a bank of windows that opened into another, semi-cylindrical, room that looked something like a wind tunnel. "It was no accident that it appeared there. And the equations _revolve_ around this hyperdrive. Remember how we theorized that Jet had something planned for the hyperdrive? I think this is it. But he obviously can't get enough strength to do it himself anymore, so I think he's trying to guide the rest of us through the process and do it for him."

"And just what is this process?" Knuckles inquired, skeptical eyes looking dark in the dim lighting of the electrical lanterns that lit the room.

"I've retooled the hyperdrive according to Jet's apparent specifications," Tails said, jabbing a finger at the room through the windows. "What that's done is toned down the power of the hyperdrive that flows through here when active, and tweaked its output so that it _should_ produce as much pure aura energy as is feasibly possible for the engine. I'm guessing that it's Jet's plan to use it to try and fix this mess we're in."

"By trying to recreate the event that landed him in this mess in the first place?" Wave inquired.

Tails shrugged. "I can't know for certain, but that's what I'm thinking, yeah. It's the plan that makes the most sense to me."

"So what are we going to need to do to pull this off, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Well, _ideally_, I'd like to check with Jet and make sure we've got this figured out right," Tails said, glancing at the unconscious hawk, "But seeing that we don't have that luxury…we're just going to have to hope for the best. Time's running out, after all." He pointed to a sealed hatch that sat adjacent to both the console and bank of windows Tails stood at. "That leads into the hyperdrive energy vent. We'll need to place Jet in there, preferably standing up."

"I guess we're going to have to figure out some way to prop the boss up," Storm remarked idly as he and Wave carried Jet towards the hatch, Knuckles opening the door for them. "He's a real deadweight at the moment."

As the two rogues worked with their boss, Sonic felt the ship rumble slightly under his feet. "Uh…Tails?" he asked warily.

"Don't worry Sonic, it's nothing to worry about for the moment," Tails assured him as he worked at the console. "That's just the ship continuing to settle on the ocean floor below us."

"Oh." Sonic was silent for a moment before he thought of something else. "Tails, didn't you say earlier that the lower decks of this ship were being flooded with sea water?"

"I did."

"Then shouldn't this room also be getting flooded? We _are_ in those lower decks."

"And you're right, this room _should_ be underwater by now, but this room, as well as the way we used to get down here, have all been sealed off save for a series of ventilation shafts that connect safely with the upper unflooded levels, and for the moment, that's enough to keep the water back."

"If you say so." It was clear that Sonic still wasn't entirely pleased with the situation.

"Sonic, Tails!" Wave suddenly exclaimed from within the next room, "Jet's waking up!"

Sonic stepped into the room in time for Jet to come to fully, quickly glancing around at his surroundings as Wave and Storm helped prop him up on his feet.

_"Where—"_ he noticed Sonic standing in the doorway, with Knuckles standing behind him, and Tails behind the windows, watching intently, and quickly answered his own question. _"Hyperdrive?"_

"Yes, we're at the hyperdrive, and Tails has implemented the equations you gave him…" Sonic began to explain.

_"Good!"_ Jet thought-exclaimed, propping himself up against one curving wall of the room as his legs didn't seem to want to support his weight. _"Do it now, while I'm awake! You'd all better leave!"_

Sonic nodded, and stepped out of the room, looking at Storm and Wave to follow him. They were hesitant, but upon getting a glare from Jet, they relented.

_"Tails!"_ Jet thought-called, _"When you activate the drive, let it run for exactly one point four five minutes, and not a decimal short of that, no matter what, you understand?"_

Tails nodded. "Understood Jet!" he said, implementing the new instructions as needed.

The hatch was then closed, sealing Jet in the room, while the others gathered around Tails at the console, in the process of warming up the hyperdrive to begin the process.

"Are we really sure about this?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, is it safe?"

"Knuckles has a point," Sonic agreed with a nod, "Is this going to hurt Jet?"

Tails hesitated a moment before responding. "If it were under normal circumstances, I would say yes," he said, "But Jet isn't exactly _normal _anymore, and anyway, this was _his_ idea, not mine. Given his increased knowledge, I have to trust that he knows what he's doing."

_"C'mon, do it now, while the timing is good!"_ Jet thought-called from the other side of the windows.

Everyone glanced at one another, before glancing at Storm and Wave. Storm glanced at Wave, who was clenching her fists anxiously in a few moments of thought.

"Do it," she said, nodding.

Tails activated the drive with the single push of a button. A turbine started to hum at the far end of the room Jet was in, and then, completely without any forewarning, suddenly burst out a column of sheer greenish energy that slammed into Jet hard. His aura flaring into existence instantly, its glow being whipped backwards in the wash of energy, Jet struggled to keep his footing, gritting his teeth. After a tense moment, electrical energy started to snap out from Jet and lash out at its surroundings. Everyone jumped when one particularly power bolt struck the glass of the window, both scorching it and cracking it.

"We're nearing the one minute mark!" Tails announced, checking a timer he had set up, "Not much longer now!"

But Jet was starting to succumb to the strain of the stress he was no doubt suffering from this, trying to keep his footing while also trying to favor the aching he seemed to be feeling all over. At one point he exclaimed an Ancient Babylonian curse, and the discharges of electrical energy he was emitting increased ten-fold. Sonic began to worry that Jet would damage the equipment that the hyperdrive ran on here soon. Wave, however, had other worries, watching at Jet continued to flinch, grunt, and moan.

"We've got to get him out of there!" she exclaimed urgently.

"Not _yet_!" Tails urged, keeping her away from the console, "Not until it's been exactly one point four five minutes!"

The procedure continued. Jet continued to bare the effects of exposure to the hyperdrive, the electrical bolts coming off of him seeming to pulse in number and frequency now. Sparks started to rain down from within the room with Jet, and the console before Tails flickered slightly. Knuckles glanced inquisitively at Tails, silently asking if this was going to be a problem, but Tails shook his head, his finger hovering over the deactivation button. Finally, the timer beeped, and the fox slammed down on the button.

The hyperdrive instantly shut down at the green energy it had been emitting vanished. Jet wobbled on his feet for a few moments, his aura not disappearing, and in fact starting to intensify, although it seemed Jet was struggling to keep it under control. But finally, he dropped to his knees, before once again passing out. The moment he fell to the floor, his aura flared brilliantly and released a burst of energy that flooded the room. And it did not stay there, as it shattered the windows dividing that room from the control room and surged out into the room beyond, bowling the group of onlookers over, as well as a couple of the electric lanterns, some of them going out in the surge. The console sparked, and started to flicker, and no longer looked like it would operate normally. Throughout the crashed ship, shudders and groans could be heard and felt.

"That doesn't sound good," Storm remarked aloud as everyone started to pick themselves up.

Tails rushed back to the console as the ship continued to creak and groan. Wave rushed to the hatch and worked to try and open it. Knuckles moved to help her. Sudden, the whole ship jolted as a loud rumble was heard occurring elsewhere in the ship.

"The hyperdrive overloaded!" Tails exclaimed in alarm. "It's taking the rest of the ship's operating systems out, and causing a chain reaction all over! I can't guarantee that the structure of the ship will hold! We need to get Jet and get…"

He was cut short when a load groan followed by a crack and clank echoed notably near where they were at. Everyone stopped what they were doing to turn in the direction of the noise, holding their breath while they listened. Meanwhile, Wave went to Jet and checked him over. At first she couldn't feel a pulse, but just when she started to panic, the hawk's heart started to beat again weakly under its own power.

It was then that another clank was heard, and this one sounded very ominous.

"That can't be good," Sonic remarked.

He was proven right when there was a pop, and suddenly the sound of water rushing their way was heard roaring towards the control room…


	20. Vilify

Picks up from last chapter, another wordy, but informative, chapter. End refers back to chapter 7, and in turn to "Sonic The Fighters" (so I hope you caught the reference when you read chpt. 7). It'll also be interesting to see what kind of responses this chapter will generate. ;)

20.

Vilify

There was hardly much of any time to react accordingly before a wall of dark, cold, water surged into the room and struck the group like a wall of bricks, flooding both the control room, and the room beyond in a matter of seconds. Promptly, Tails and Knuckles started to swim to the roof of the room, seeking an air pocket. The rest did not, for various reasons. Sonic, having never learned to swim (despite trying repeatedly before just flat out giving up), of course sank. Jet remained unconscious for the moment, and thus could not swim either. Wave could swim, but she opted to try and help Jet on her own. Storm was tall enough that there wasn't much point in him swimming, so he more or less just stood there, trying to decide what he should do.

The ship on a whole continued to tremble even after the room had flooded, and after a fury of sparks, all the equipment in the room shorted out, sending out a very weak electrical charge in the water that thankfully wasn't enough to electrocute anybody, but was enough to feel the buzz nonetheless. The group was just in the process of shaking it off and trying to find a way to escape, when something in the room groaned, and a beam suddenly fell, taking out the only remaining electrical lantern still functioning, plunging the room into darkness. More metallic groaning could be heard after darkness fell, and other heavy things could be felt falling as they displaced the body of water that flooded the room. By this point in time, the group was running out of air, and was struggling to keep from drowning.

It was then that Jet unexpectedly regained consciousness.

He did so quite suddenly, at least so it seemed. In the darkness, it was almost impossible to tell when he regained consciousness exactly, but either the same time he did, or immediately afterwards, his aura flared on, suddenly casting a glow of blue-green light into area where there had been none. Drawing everyone's attention to him, they watched as the hawk surveyed the situation then seemed to rise up into the water, the aura growing in brightness. One by one, similar auras started to flare into existence around everyone else, and they started to rise into positions similar to Jet's. They all watched Jet for a heartbeat of a second, time just about ready to start running out.

Then there was a sudden flash of light, and after a brief, but powerful, burst of wind, their surroundings changed in a blink of an eye, and suddenly all of them were outside the crashed ship again and on solid ground beside the workshop. The auras holding them releasing them, the group fell to the ground, all gasping for air and shaking cold water off of them.

"Is everybody all right?" Sonic coughed out after a moment of this.

"I'm fine!" Tails replied first.

"Ditto," Knuckles quickly followed.

"I'm fine too, and so's Wave," Storm bellowed out after Knuckles. "Though we were cutting it close there."

"Another moment longer, and we all probably would've drowned," Tails gasped, shaking water from his waterlogged tails.

"How did we get out here, then?" Knuckles asked aloud.

_"You all may start thanking me for that, you especially Sonic."_

Everyone turned around in time to see Jet lower gracefully to the ground, aura in full flare. Though he was now low enough to stand up on his own, he hovered just high enough that his feet did not touch the ground. When the hawk looked up, his eyes glowed with a faint glow of their own that certainly hadn't been there before. No one needed to ask to know that Jet's powers had yet again grew in strength.

"Jet, are you okay?" Wave asked, approaching the hawk.

_"More or less,"_ Jet replied calmly without speaking. He then glanced back at the crashed airship. _"Can't say the same for Eggman's ship, though."_

They all followed Jet's gaze, and saw the ship was smoking, with fire belching out of certain areas, or buckling in other areas. Soon the ship was even more ruined than it was before.

"Wow, glad we got out of there when we did," Sonic remarked aloud.

Tails, however, was focused back on Jet, knowing what this implied, and looked worried. "I'm sorry, Jet," he commented, "Obviously, the plan with the hyperdrive didn't work to undo your powers."

Jet, however, waved the matter off, seeming to be lost in thought. _"Who said that was my plan?"_ he remarked aloud.

This drew a few puzzled looks from everyone.

"Then…I don't understand…" Wave began, "What _was_ your plan?"

Jet was starting to look annoyed by the constant distraction, clearly trying to focus on something else in his head. _"Stabilization,"_ he muttered.

They waited for him to say more, but he remained silent, mentally focusing on whatever it was he was trying to focus mentally on.

"Stabilization for…" Knuckles prompted after a few moments.

_"My powers,"_ Jet replied dismissively. _"C'mon guys, keep up with me here!"_

But the others seemed just more lost and puzzled than before, if not a little annoyed by the fact that Jet expected them to keep up with his line of thought.

"What?" Wave exclaimed, alarmed, "But Jet! Those powers are dangerous and unnatural! They're harming you!"

_"They don't harm the Ancient Babylonians,"_ Jet remarked, suddenly hovering away.

More glances from among the group.

"Ancient Babylonians?" Sonic repeated. "Seriously?"

But Jet had already hovered away and back into the workshop, leaving everyone else outside. They all stared after him for a few moments, growing more and more puzzled.

"What does he mean by Ancient Babylonians?" Wave inquired.

"Possibly nothing," Tails replied, scratching at his head, but finally shaking his head in dismay. "I don't really know, though."

"Um," Storm spoke up suddenly, "Are we going to leave the boss alone in the workshop?"

A moment of silence fell as everyone glanced at Storm. Finally, Sonic summed up the answer nicely.

"Heck no," Sonic stated, and waved everyone towards the workshop. "C'mon, let's go."

* * *

They found Jet in the downstairs in the cavern workroom, hovering in the middle of the room, as several miscellaneous computers, equipment, papers, and more spiraled around the hawk. Jet wasn't looking at any of them, having his head bowed and eyes closed, lost in thought. Whatever it was that he was thinking about, he was mentally using the computers to keep track of it all, as they all flashed equations and text faster than could be read, but it didn't really matter, as it was all in Ancient Babylonian. As for the rest, it was unclear what Jet wanted them for, but he seemed to have a reason.

The group gathered under him, watching him, fascinated.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Knuckles remarked aloud.

"All right, Jet, what are you doing now?" Sonic asked, exasperated.

_"Shh!"_ Jet hushed, turning briefly in Sonic's direction, _"I'm trying to concentrate!"_

"What on earth on?" Tails asked, grabbing one of the computers as it floated by, only to have it yanked back out of his hands and moved out of his immediate reach.

Jet did not answer, but he made a frustrated growl.

"Look, Jet," Wave began, stepping forward, "I think—"

_"So noted,"_ Jet interrupted, _"Now shush."_

Wave gaped at him for a moment. "But I didn't finish speaking."

_"No, but you thought it."_

Wave's eyes went wide at this revelation.

"Okay, everybody, just leave him alone," Sonic urged to the others. "Just so long as he's working on finding an answer to this mess, should we really be bugging him? And anyway, I _think_ it's pretty safe to say he's our best hope of finding that answer somewhere around here."

_"The answer isn't here,"_ Jet suddenly corrected, and didn't elaborate further.

Sonic whirled around to look at him, continuing to work nonetheless. "What? So _now_ what do we do?"

Focused as he was, and annoyed by the constant distraction, Jet didn't reply.

Meanwhile, Tails was thinking. "I think I see where this is going," he remarked aloud. "We already know Jet used the Eggman's hyperdrive to stabilize his powers. At first, I couldn't figure out why, but then I realized it's because we all know the answer to fixing this is hidden in those powers somewhere, and Jet's the best person to find it, but in order to do so, he needed better control of these growing powers. So he forced their evolution further."

"Yes, but at what expense?" Wave remarked, worried. "He could have just robbed himself of even more time to find that answer!"

"But by doing this, hasn't he found a faster way of doing it?" Knuckles inquired.

"But the boss also said the answer isn't here," Storm pointed out.

"That hasn't stopped him, obviously," Tails commented, looking up at the hawk.

"But then, if the answer isn't _here_," Sonic commented, pointing down at the floor to refer to their surroundings, "then where is it?"

"GRR!" Jet suddenly exclaimed vocally, one of the rare times he did that now, "Astria Babylonai!"

Everyone looked at the hawk as he resumed working, then at Knuckles, who was blinking at the hawk several times, not entirely confident he had actually heard Jet say what he heard him say.

"Babylon Garden," Knuckles finally translated for the others.

"Babylon Garden?" Wave repeated, also surprised, and possibly a little skeptical.

But Tails wasn't. "No, he could be onto something!" he realized, motioning up at Jet. "Babylon Garden is the last major relic of the Ancient Babylonians out there, the greatest collection of their culture, knowledge, and just about everything! It makes sense that there could be an answer to Jet's problems hidden away in there!"

"But how are we going to get at it?" Sonic demanded. "Last I heard, that place literally got thrown into orbit."

"Yeah," Tails agreed, nodding, "it had to be done in order to properly protect the planet from its malfunctioning engine. Too bad, really. If that engine just wasn't so unstable…"

_"No!"_ Jet suddenly thought-exclaimed, as if in realization, but as usual, he did not elaborate.

At least not vocally. Just seconds after he made that exclamation, a computer screen next to Tails, one of the burned out one, suddenly switched on and displayed a series of equations on it, as well as providing the variable needed to solve it. Tails examined it for a few moments before his eyebrows went up in recognition.

"Wait a minute," he muttered, "I know these equations."

He walked over to where one of the chalkboards that had been set up earlier lay after having been knocked down in the blast, and stood it back up. The others came to examine the equations that were still written in white chalk upon it.

"These are the equations Jet wrote first, the ones he continually insisted would help somehow," Tails explained.

"The ones you said were probably physics equations of some sort?" Sonic asked, making sure he was thinking of the right equations.

Tails nodded slowly. "Except I don't think these have anything to do with Jet's powers after all," he mumbled, and went back to the computer.

He inputted the variables as directed, and told the computer to solve the equation. After a long period of thinking and processing, the device did as it was told, displaying a complicated diagram of the earth and a distorted bubble of lines surrounding it. More, green-colored, lines, were shown impacting the bubble, with more data appearing below the diagram in total.

"Whoa…" Tails remarked aloud.

"What? What are we looking at here?" Sonic asked anxiously.

"Something that could very well revolutionize physics as we understand it," Tails muttered aloud. "_I'm_ not even sure I understand this entirely."

"Try your best," Knuckles urged as Wave moved to study the screen too.

"Okay," Tails said, turning to face the others. "First off, you need to understand that our planet produces its own magnetic field. This happens because the core, made of liquid metals, is spinning, thus generating the field much like a planet sized electromagnet, more or less. This is why a compass only points north; it's interacting with the magnetic field of the planet."

"Okay, following you this far," Sonic said, nodding.

"Now because our sun produces a lot of deadly radiation that is constantly thrown towards our planet," Tails continued. "But thanks to the magnetic field, it shields the surface of the planet from nearly all of that deadly radiation. That field is important for life on this planet to exist, because without it, we would've long been irradiated and killed off, assuming solar wind didn't blow the planet's atmosphere off first."

"Okay, so how does this fit in with Jet's equations?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh my…" Wave murmured aloud suddenly, having figured out the significance of the equations, and turned to look at the others, in awe. "I'll tell you how these equations fit in. They describe the maturation process of a planet's magnetic field as both the planet and its star age!"

The other three glanced at each other for a moment.

"So…how is that so important?" Storm asked dumbly.

"As a star ages, the amount of power, energy, and radiation it gives off changes in amount and strength," Wave explained anxiously. "This is well known fact already. What these equations reveal, however, is that as the star ages, it starts putting off more and more of a _very _specific kind of energy that _entirely_ fits in with our present situation!"

"And that energy is…?" Storm prompted.

Tails grinned a little, already expecting what kind of reaction this will produce. "Aura energy," he answered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," Sonic interrupted, shocked, "You mean the same kind of energy that fuels Jet's powers?"

"The very same," Tails assured him, stepping towards the computer now. "And these equations predict that the aura energy gradually builds up in areas in the magnetosphere called the Van Allen radiation belt. As it does, the energy's unique and powerful nature slowly disrupts and weakens the planet's magnetic sphere to the point that only a thin shell of electromagnetic energy remains around it."

"And that's bad," Sonic deduced, "because that leaves our planet exposed to the deadly radiation, thus when this happens, life will no longer be supported on the planet."

"But that's just it!" Wave remarked. "If we're reading this right, these equations predict that the aura energy will only pool in the planet's atmosphere, and create a new kind of shield that will prolong the longevity of life on a planet far longer than has been previously considered."

"Whoa," Knuckles muttered, intrigued.

"And that's just the start," Tails said, picking up on the explanation again. "Once the aura energy starts doing that, it'll be allowed to gradually bleed to the planet's surface and expose its inhabitants. Over time, that energy will cause gradually changes in the genomes of all life on the planet as it starts to absorb the aura energy, meaning that the entire populace on this planet could start developing powers like Jet's _naturally_ within two-hundred years or _less_."

"So you're saying that what we're seeing in Jet may not be so unnatural after all?" Sonic inquired, jabbing a finger at the hawk, who was still doing his mysterious work.

"Well, no, in Jet's case, he was exposed to large amounts of aura energy prematurely, before his body had been given sufficient time to adapt to it," Tails explained. "That on top of his preexisting Babylonian genes has only accelerated a process exponentially that wasn't ready to be accelerated, and as a result, there are downsides. Meaning our problem hasn't changed. If we can't help Jet undo what's been done to him, he will die."

"And that's not good," Storm remarked.

"But here's something _I_ don't get," Sonic said, "If exposure to this aura energy is supposed to create powers like Jet's, why is Jet the first to exhibit them? I mean, I'm sure there has to be _someone_ out there who's been exposed to enough aura energy to start getting these powers prematurely."

"But only the Babylon Rogues and their brethren have the Babylonian genes," Tails stressed. "The rest of us have developed the right genes yet for it to even be possible to get the powers Jet has, at least nowhere near the same degree."

"Now wait," Knuckles began, "Does that mean that even without being exposed properly, guys like Jet _already_ have enough to have these powers because of that one inactive gene?"

"That's right," Tails said, nodding.

"How?"

Wave stepped forward with the answer. "Because the Ancient Babylonians already had these powers," she realized.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Storm looked at her in surprise.

"Really?" Storm asked.

"It makes sense, though," Tails pointed out. "Think about what we know about the Ancient Babylonians. We know that either them or their descendants were _not_ native to this planet, having travelled here from somewhere else. And according to legend, they all had the powers of what the stories term as genies. And there's the fact that Jet figured this all out _first_ out of everything. Because the Ancient Babylonians already _knew_ about it. I think this whole process with the aura energy and the maturation of their planet's magnetosphere had already taken place long before they left it to come here. They already had powers equal to that of Jet's and _then_ some, no doubt. Powers strong enough that even by today's standards, they can seem like pure magic."

"And then they came here, got stranded…" Knuckles continued, catching on.

"…and spread their genes to the populace here," Wave concluded. "Over the generations, most of their genes were lost over time as they merged more and more with the non-aura-enhanced, most of those genes dying out as they did _except _that last, inactive, gene that resides in all of us rogues. We have a head start in this whole process than the rest of you, simply because we're related to those Ancient Babylonians. We already have the one gene necessary to start harnessing these powers, it just needs to be activated by large enough exposure to aura energy."

"Unfortunately, it seems that one gene isn't enough," Tails remarked. "It provides the powers, yes, but not any number of other adaptations needed in order for one's body to tolerate and support those powers without dying. Those genes are no doubt already lost, and will have to be gained again over the next few generations of time as exposure to aura energy on the planet increases. Only then can these powers be used safely."

"Huh," Sonic said, scratching at his quills. "Guess that means Eggman's plans to harness these powers for himself was in vain. There isn't a way to safely speed up the process."

"Not that I know of, no," Tails confessed.

"But while this is all good and interesting," Knuckles began, bringing the subject back to the more pressing issue, "this doesn't really help us figure out the solution we need, it just explains how it all got started in the first place."

"The boss mentioned Babylon Garden, though," Storm suddenly interjected, "couldn't the answers still be there?"

"If not, perhaps Babylon Garden can be used in some way to get at the solution," Tails remarked.

Wave suddenly made another connection. "Maybe the answer can only be obtained at the Babylonian homeworld itself," she remarked aloud, awed by the thought.

"Their homeworld?" Sonic repeated. "But we don't even know where that _is_. And even if we did, it's no doubt billions upon billions of miles from here, where we couldn't possibly reach it within our lifetime."

"Babylon Garden could," Wave pointed out.

"Yes, but its engine is unstable and not working properly!" Knuckles stated. "Not even the Babylonians could control the power it uses right!"

"Not so!" Tails suddenly interjected, and pointed at the equations on the screen again. "These equations shed new light on the matter! If we're right to assume that the Babylonian homeworld has already undergone the maturation process with the aura energy, then the laws of physics on that world would shift ever so slightly, again due to the very nature of the aura energy. It plays with space-time, see. But my point is that the engine on Babylon Garden was built with this shift in physics in mind, and then was taken to a place where that shift hadn't taken place just yet."

Sonic caught on suddenly. "And maybe that difference between the two places was enough to mess up the engine into not working properly!" he deduced.

"That's what I'm thinking, yes!" Tails agreed. "The engine _works_, just not under these conditions! And now that we know this, we could possibly adapt it so it _will _work!"

_"That's why I need to concentrate!"_ Jet thought-exclaimed suddenly from where he hovered, working. _"Sheesh, you guys are __**slow**__ in comparison now."_

"Oh gee, thanks for the support, Jet!" Wave grumbled up at the hawk.

"But, as much as I hate to take things full circle," Sonic said, "this hasn't answered my original question. We know or at least can safely suppose why we need to _go_ to Babylon Garden, but how are we going to actually _get_ there?"

Jet suddenly snapped open his eyes, his head jerking upward to look across the workroom as he _literally_ dropped everything he was doing and let the computers and such he was working with fall to the floor. _"I have the answer!"_ He exclaimed happily, and pointed.

Everyone followed his gaze to look at an object that had always been in the workroom since the first day they all arrived here, something that Storm had even been quick to note was there when he first stepped into the room.

Tails's old rocket, the Lunar Fox.


	21. Rocket Power

You know the drill, picks up from last chapter. We're getting into the final stretch of the story here, so the pace should be picking up for the next few chapters. Also get detailed about the Lunar Fox, though I do deliberately fudge continuity a little; in the game it appeared in, the Lunar Fox is powered by an unprecedented and inconsistent _eight_ Chaos Emeralds, but here, I state it's just the usual seven, for simplicity's sake. Also recycle a cliffhanger, so to speak. :P

21.

Rocket Power

As it turned out, however, deciding to use the Lunar Fox to reach Babylon Garden, and actually using it to reach Babylon Garden, was two very different things, and this issue simply had to be resolved before anything could be done with the rocket. Fortunately, Jet, without even needing to be asked, quickly whipped together plans of his own design for the group to follow and get the rocket in working order as quickly as possible.

But there was still quite a lot of work to be done on the rocket. First and foremost, the rocket had flown _once_ into orbit and back, and then never again, as it hadn't really been built with the intent to use a second time. Since that flight, it had sat in its corner of Tails's workshop for years, gathering dust as it aged. So much time had passed that Tails wasn't confident that the rocket even still worked, and if did, it wasn't going to do them any good until they fixed it up for use.

Second was the fact that the fact the rocket's power source required a full seven Chaos Emeralds to work. Anything less and it wouldn't achieve orbit, yet another reason why it hadn't ever been used again. Having to collect all seven of the emeralds seemed like a lot of effort to go joyriding in a rocketship. The problem was further complicated by the fact that even if everyone currently guarding each individual Chaos Emerald were willing to hand them over for use in the Lunar Fox, there was no way they could collect them all in time.

They did, however, still have the one emerald GUN had loaned them, but one emerald was six short of the required seven for the rocket. Fortunately, Tails's knowledge of the emeralds had increased since when he built the Lunar Fox, and now knew how to use the emerald's powers more efficiently. This paired with Jet's massive repository of knowledge was enough to design a new power system that would power the rocket with just the one emerald with ease.

Finally, there was the fact that the Lunar Fox would currently only seat one. Jet's plans, for some reason that he didn't stop to explain to the others, required the rocket's cockpit to be expanded, but even then, the proposed new cockpit would only just _barely_ fit two. It would never fit all of them, meaning that only Jet and one other was going to be leaving in the rocket. And it was debatable who was going to go.

Either way, it was quickly decided focus on one matter at a time. They all quickly got to work, moving the metal frame of the would-be new airship for the rogues aside so the Lunar Fox could take its place with the robotic construction arms, and got to work fixing the rocket up. At first they were all working on it, but the hours dragged on, and it was already _very_ late at night, with none of them having gotten much of any sleep since they woke up that morning (save Jet, who had gotten even less sleep due to the complications with his powers). And one by one, the number of people working on the Lunar Fox started to diminish.

First to fade off was Storm, who was lumbering around doing a lot of heavy lifting that only drained the albatross's energy further until he finally couldn't take anymore and sat down beside a worktable for a moments rest, only to end up slipping into a deep sleep. Next came Knuckles, who ended up taking on Storm's workload in addition to his own, and quickly faced a similar fate. Sonic stubbornly tried to keep working, having pulled all-nighters several times before, and was a bit of an night-owl naturally anyway, not to mention that he wanted to help just as much as everyone else, but it finally it got to be too much for even the blue hedgehog, who ended up curling up in the workchamber's couch and falling asleep.

Wave also wanted to keep working, despite probably being the most exhausted of everyone, as she had worked the hardest throughout the day to try and fix the problem, and amazingly, she managed to stay awake and keep working without trouble for several hours longer than the others who had given in to the urge to sleep. But finally, the swallow left to check an equation at a computer and Tails looked at her next, she had fallen asleep, probably without meaning to, in the chair in front of the computer.

This just left Tails and Jet working on the rocket, and Jet's work was sporadic, as he had to deal with his own decaying health and finicky powers, not to mention his constantly growing intelligence kept distracting him as he realized new problems he had to stop and solve. Thus Tails ultimately started to take on a fair deal of the work himself. He was dead tired, but like Sonic, had pulled all-nighters too, more than the hedgehog, doing exactly this kind of work, so despite not wanting to, he trudged on, and he planned to keep trudging on, alone if necessary, until the task was complete.

* * *

Several hours passed, until it was now technically morning again, but early enough still that the sun wouldn't rise for another hour or so still. Around then, Sonic suddenly awoke with a start, realizing in his sleep that he _was_ sleeping when he should be working, and snapped awake. Sitting up and looking around blearily, Sonic first saw the Lunar Fox, standing upright in its construction cradle, looking a lot closer to being finished now, although its cockpit was completely gone as it had been dismantled for its expansion. Tails was standing on a ladder beside it, working on the task alone, with everyone else asleep. Which led Sonic to the next thing he noticed.

Jet lying sprawled out on his side, looking to be unconscious, although extremely pale, making Sonic feared the worse, and quickly hurried over to check the hawk out.

"Jet!" he exclaimed as he bent down to examine the hawk.

His shout drew Tails attention, who glanced wearily down at the pair. "It's alright, Sonic, he's just unconscious!" the kit called. "Jet's been struggling staying conscious again, with his powers slowly overwhelming him! But I'm monitoring the situation!"

And sure enough, he was, because propped up on some spare parts was a handheld computer rigged to remotely watch Jet's vitals. For the moment, Jet was extremely weak, with his heartbeat being very soft and sluggish, but he was stable. The moment Jet's condition changed, the device would no doubt let out a shrill warning, alerting at the very least Tails.

Sonic nonetheless worked to try and wake the hawk anyway, knowing that Tails needed help. "How's it going, Tails?" he called as he did this.

"Mind-numbingly slow," Tails replied back as he stubbornly worked on, despite looking very tired himself. "But making good progress nonetheless. All that's left to be done is this cockpit."

"And how are you holding up?"

"Well enough, I guess."

"You don't look like it."

"I don't really have a choice, Sonic. _Somebody_ has to do this."

"And what about Jet? He's not doing too good, is he?"

"No, he's constantly getting worse. Like I've said before, it's nothing short of a miracle he's managed to last this long."

Jet started to stir, so Sonic glanced up at the rocket, wondering how close they were getting to getting it off the ground. "How much longer is this going to take?" he asked.

"I don't know," Tails confessed. "That depends on a lot of things." He sighed, and gave the hedgehog a comforting, albeit weak, grin. "But I think we're going to have it finished in time."

"How?" Sonic asked, doubting this. "You're just working on this all on your own, and have a whole cockpit to build!"

"For the moment, you're right," Tails agreed, "but when Jet _is_ conscious, he pitches in, and let me tell you right now, that he makes things go a _whole_ lot faster when he helps." Noticing Jet was about to reawaken, he started to climb down, pointing at the hawk. "See for yourself."

Jet opened his eyes, and promptly tried to sit up, looking around, only seeming to be dimly aware of Sonic's presence. Muttering a Babylonian curse suddenly, Jet's flight power kicked in, lifting the hawk up off the floor as he focused on the rocket. Without warning, the parts to be installed on the rocket flew up off the ground at Jet's command and rapidly started to fit themselves into the craft and attach themselves. Jet even grabbed raw materials with his powers, and using the same powers, molded them into new parts as needed. In a matter of just a couple of minutes, the cockpit went from practically nonexistent to virtually completed, save for the outer paneling that was required to be placed on the outside for launch.

Jet probably could have finished the task in just another minute or less, but his eyes suddenly fluttered, and lapsed into unconsciousness again, his powers suddenly shutting off and letting him and whatever else his powers were holding up to fall. Sonic quickly caught the hawk before he hit the ground, stumbling and nosily bumping into a worktable in the process. The noise made Wave jump suddenly, and she started to stir, and one of the rumbling snores that belonged to either Knuckles or Storm suddenly halted. Sonic, however, focused his attention on Jet. Tails stepped over to join him.

"He's been like that for a couple hours, now," Tails stated. "He'll suddenly snap into consciousness, wordlessly continue working on the Lunar Fox like he did just now, and then fall unconscious again. Now it's getting to the point that he can't even catch himself before he gets hurt. He's barely said anything in all that time. I'm not even sure he's still aware we're here with him anymore."

"Time's running out," Sonic summarized briefly, as he gently lowered Jet to lie on the floor again.

Wave walked over at this point, rubbing at her eyes, followed by Knuckles, and a moment later, Storm. All three looked around to try and get themselves caught up with what they had missed while they slept.

"How much do we have left to do?" Wave asked Tails groggily.

Tails climbed up his ladder again to examine the progress Jet had made on the cockpit. "We just need to put the outer paneling on the cockpit, then after a few tests, we _should_ be done and ready to go," he deduced.

"Then let's get a roll on," Wave stated, picking up one of the panels and joining Tails on the ladder.

"You know, we still have one last issue we need to resolve before we can launch this thing," Knuckles remarked aloud, studying the rocket.

"Who's going to go with Jet?" Sonic deduced.

Knuckles nodded. "I can see why Jet's plans called for two seats in the rocket now," he stated. "At this rate, Jet's not going to be able to do it himself."

"Not that he should've done it by himself, anyway," Tails remarked.

"But then who should go with the boss?" Storm asked. "It can only be one of us."

"It probably shouldn't be just anyone, too," Knuckles reasoned. "It'll have to be someone capable enough to face whatever might be awaiting them."

Sonic stepped forward. "In that case, I'll go."

"You?" Wave repeated, looking down at the hedgehog, "Why you?"

"Because I match that description," Sonic replied, "and I'm willing to help Jet, because it's obvious he needs up. I know you were probably about to volunteer Wave, but you being the only other brainy person we've got beside Tails who doesn't _have_ to go, you should stay here, just in case. Besides, you look just about as bad as Jet does. I don't think you're up for it."

"You can't be much better," Wave argued, "You've been up and working just about as long as the rest of us."

"Maybe, but I think he's right, Wave," Tails said, placing a reassuring hand on the swallow. "It's either Sonic or Knuckles, and to be honest, of the two I'd feel more comfortable with Sonic, no offense Knuckles."

"None taken," Knuckles replied. "Actually, I'm not really that keen to go into space for this anyway."

"Admittedly, neither am I," Sonic agreed. "But somebody has to go up there."

Storm patted Sonic on the back roughly, his strength making the hedgehog stumble a little. "I say best of luck to you then," he said. "I know we've spent more time fighting than working together like this, but I think I've learned that you are a pretty good little hedgehog, Sonic."

Sonic shrugged his aching shoulders a little grumpily, but a little flattered nonetheless. "Thanks, Storm."

"What do you think, Wave?" Storm asked next, calling up to the swallow.

The swallow bit her beak for a moment, before finally she sighed. "Fine," she said. "Sonic will go up with Jet. Just so long as Jet gets out of this alive, I'm happy."

* * *

A short time later, the hanger doors that sealed off the cavern workroom from the tunnel that led outside opened, and sitting vertically on a complicated metal cart, the completed rocket rolled out on a set of rails until it was just outside the tunnel, having a clear shot up at the night sky above. Once here, a complicated mechanism lifted the Lunar Fox until it was sitting upright, ready for takeoff.

On a metal walkway that ran alongside this set up, Knuckles pushed the still-unconscious form of Jet in a wheelchair Tails had managed to come up with. Walking beside him was Sonic, listening to Tails as Tails ran the hedgehog through the required processes of launching and operating the rocket.

"It'll be pretty straightforward," Tails promised. "Jet was able to provide a series of coded scripts for the Lunar Fox's computer to follow, so it'll navigate mostly by itself. However, just in case, monitor it closely, and keep the rest of us on the ground updated of your progress. Wave and I will be monitoring the rocket's progress remotely from the ground. If anything goes wrong, we'll be ready to jump in and remotely seize control of the rocket from there, and if necessary, pilot it that way. We should be able to maintain radio contact at the very least until you reach Babylon Garden. After that, I can't guarantee anything. It all depends on Babylon Garden's current status, and what Jet plans to do up there."

"Assuming he's conscious enough to do it," Sonic remarked, glancing at the hawk sitting limply in the wheelchair Knuckles was pushing. He looked in very bad shape.

"Speaking of Jet," Tails said, handing Sonic a handheld computer, "This is what I've been using to monitor Jet's vitals. It'll continue to do so automatically unless something damages it or interferes with its scans. I believe you already know how to use it and read its results. Keep in mind, however, that if anything should happen to Jet, there's only so much you're going to be able to do up there."

"Hopefully it shouldn't come to that," Sonic stated, inwardly praying that he would be proven right.

"What do you think Jet's plan is?" Knuckles asked. "I know we've speculated it to no end, but Jet is the only one who really knows, and he never bothered to tell us before he got into the condition he is now."

"That's because Jet no longer thinks like we do anymore, despite trying," Tails explained. "He's simply too smart. He can't help but piece together what seems obvious to him, but not to the rest of us, and because of that perception, he got frustrated at the fact that we couldn't seem to keep up with him. Since that was slowing him down, he acted as necessary, only letting us know the details he felt we needed to know and nothing more, simply because it'd take too long to explain."

"Whatever his plan is, though," Sonic remarked, "it's on Babylon Garden, so if we get that far, hopefully everything else will fall into place."

"As I understand it, his plan can only be one of two things," Tails said. "Either Jet expects to find the solution right there on Babylon Garden, or he plans to use Babylon Garden to go someplace where he can find the answer."

"A gamble either way," Knuckles pointed out as they arrived at the base of the rocket.

"Not like we have a choice, Knux," Sonic retorted.

"If Jet does have to take Babylon Garden somewhere, keep in mind that we'll have no way to track you, or send help up to you," Tails warned.

"Yeah, I know," Sonic said. "Hopefully, though, Jet will be awake, ready to act, and know exactly what will be needed to be done. But we won't know until we get up there, so…"

"Yeah, okay," Tails said, getting the hint as he placed one hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Be safe up there, Sonic. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you either."

"Oh, don't worry about me," Sonic said, shrugging off the fox in his usual cocky manner, "I've still got Eggman down here to come back and beat on a regular basis. Not about to let you have all the glory of doing that."

Tails smiled, nodded, and turned to head back into the workshop. Knuckles and Sonic then both worked together to lift Jet out of the wheelchair and up into the cockpit of the rocket. Gently, they lowered him into the backseat, and while Knuckles strapped the hawk in, Sonic strapped himself into the front, pilot's seat. That done, Sonic started checking the console in front of him over to make sure everything was okay before switching on the radio.

"Testing, testing, one, two, three," Sonic said into the device.

"This is Wave, I hear you loud and clear, Sonic," came a reply from Wave. "Everything checks out on our end. Things check out on yours?"

Sonic glanced the console over again, noting all of the little lights. "Yep," he responded, "we are go for launch."

"Then buckle up and get ready," came Tails voice, having arrived back in the workshop where their makeshift command center had been set up with as many functioning equipment Tails was able to fit together. "We're warming up the engines for launch now."

Knuckles tapped Sonic on the shoulder. "Jet's strapped in," he reported.

"Okay, thanks," Sonic replied as he continued to make sure everything was go.

"Sonic," Knuckles said again, making sure he had the hedgehog's attention before extending one hand, "good luck."

Sonic glanced at the echidna for a moment, then took his hand and shook it. "Yeah," he said nodding.

Knuckles nodded back and clambered out of the cockpit, closing the hatch behind him and latching it, sealing Sonic and Jet inside. Sonic let out a whoosh of breath, anxiety starting to get to him. His last chance to turn back was almost gone.

"Engines are warmed up and ready for ignition, everything still checks out," Tails reported over the radio. "All systems are go."

"Are you ready, Sonic?" Wave asked next.

Sonic nodded to himself. "As I'll ever be," he admitted, not bothering to hide his nervousness.

"And Jet?"

Sonic glanced back at the hawk strapped in his seat. "Still out like a light," he replied, "but I'm hoping he'll wake up on the way up there."

"Don't worry," Tails responded via the radio, "even with all the fixes we made to the rocket, this is still going to be a fairly turbulent ride. That should get Jet to wake up in short order."

"One can hope," Sonic said more to himself than anyone else.

"Okay, here goes," Tails said, "Launch in t-minus three, two, one, launch!"

A sudden roar bloomed out somewhere deep within the rocket, and the whole craft started to jolt and shake. Not quite prepared for it, Sonic grabbed at the armrests of his chair tightly until his knuckles turned white. He felt himself be pressed into the back of his seat as the rocket started to accelerate forward, and was soon flying high into the sky, aiming for the stars high above.

Too late to turn back now.

The launching continued on for several seconds as Sonic said rigidly in the chair, trying to brave it out as the rocket shot onward at extreme speeds. Normally he'd be thrilled to be going this fast, but riding a rocket wasn't an experience he was quite used to.

"Sonic, what's your status?" Tails asked over the radio suddenly, startling Sonic.

Sonic, realizing suddenly he had been holding his breath, let out quickly as he looked out the rocket's front window.

"We're getting pretty high up!" he reported.

"_How_ high?" Wave demanded on the radio next. "Check the gauges!"

Sonic remembered the console before him, and glanced at the altimeter. "We're at thirty kilometers, and climbing!"

"Good, everything is going as planned," Tails responded. "The Lunar Fox's computer has already pin-pointed the location of Babylon Garden, and is plotting a course."

"All systems are still go," Wave added.

"Now reaching fifty kilometers!" Sonic announced into the radio.

"Hold on," Wave suddenly remarked, sounding puzzled. "The rocket is picking up something, heading towards you!"

"Say what now?" Sonic asked, not quite prepared for this unexpected news.

Neither Tails nor Wave got the chance to reply before something heavy suddenly impacted the side of the rocket, making it jolt suddenly. Behind him, Sonic heard Jet jolt, and awake, looking around wide-eyed, but distant. Sonic had bigger issues to worry about, however, as he heard metallic thuds as whatever struck the rocket seemed to be sticking nearby, further jolting the rocket's movement.

"Sonic, report!" Tails exclaimed over the radio.

"Something hit us!" Sonic responded, trying to look out the window and see it, but he couldn't see anything from here.

"Hold on, we're tracking you from here!" Tails responded. A pause, then, "Looks like something has _latched_ onto the rocket!"

"_Latched on?_" Sonic repeated. "What the heck could do _that_?"

"I don't know," Tails responded hurriedly, "stand by while I—"

He was cut short suddenly when the radio clicked a few times, fell silent, then started broadcasting a new voice.

"You going somewhere, hedgehog?" the voice asked contemptuously.

Sonic recognized the voice immediately. "_Eggman_."


	22. Desperate Measures

Next chapter, fairly action packed. Building up for the nearing end now...

22.

Desperate Measures

"You just don't know when to give up, Eggman, you know that right?" Sonic snapped at the radio angrily, rocking at the Lunar Fox continued to jolt and jerk from the craft Eggman had somehow used to latch onto his, trying to figure out how to get out of this one.

Eggman laughed at Sonic's comment, however. "Did you really think that little stunt your hawk friend pulled off earlier was going to be enough to keep me from coming back? Seriously, Sonic, I'm shocked at you. I thought you _knew _me better than that."

"Sonic, Wave and I are enabling the remote control from here!" Tails reported over the radio suddenly, apparently sharing the same channel as Eggman. "Keep Eggman distracted in the meantime! And keep giving us your altitude!"

"Seventy-five kilometers!" Sonic chose as his response to the message.

Sonic knew Eggman heard all of this too, but the doctor ignored both Sonic and Tails, apparently not caring or worrying about whatever they were planning, and carried on speaking. "Jet might have dealt me a critical blow to my resources in our last battle, but I'm not incapable! I've been watching the whole lot of you working in that little shack of yours, and saw you were about to launch a rocket. So I just sat and waited for my chance to act. I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

"Ninety kilometers!" Sonic exclaimed loudly.

"We have remote control, and you're still on course!" Tails reported over the radio loudly. "Eggman, any attempts to change their course will be resisted from us down here!"

"I have no interest in changing their course!" Eggman snapped back, confirming that he could hear the fox. "I only intent to get what I came for!"

Sonic rolled his eyes at this comment. "We've already been through this, Eggman, you can't have Jet!" he argued. "With his powers, what makes you think you could even control and contain him anyway?"

"I have my ways!" Eggman retorted. "Besides, I haven't forgotten your little comment about these powers slowly killing Jet. With that in mind, and by my calculations, he's not going to be able to do much to resist me now without jeopardizing his own life further than it already is. If he's truly as smart as he has indicated, he'll submit."

Knowing Eggman had a point, Sonic didn't respond to that. Just in case, he glanced back at Jet to see how he was doing. The turbulence had indeed awakened Jet, but he seemed very distant and vacant, like he wasn't aware of his surroundings, so Sonic couldn't count on his help for the moment.

He glanced at the altimeter again. "One hundred thirty kilometers!" he reported into the radio. "Tails, are you going to _do _something about this?"

"There's nothing we _can_ do from here!" Tails remarked. "Any attempt to try and shake Eggman off now would result the rocket in getting veered heavily off-course, and you're not high enough! You'll need to be at least three hundred kilometers before we can attempt it!"

"It won't matter," Eggman declared. "Any attempts to try and get rid of me _this_ time will fail! I will not allow anything to keep me from getting what I want this time, and I want that hawk!"

It was then that Sonic realized something, and since there wasn't anything else he could do at the moment, decided to try and use it to his advantage.

"It's not Jet you want," Sonic pointed out to Eggman, "it's his powers!"

"All right, I'll give you that," Eggman conceded. "I could care less about what happens to that blasted bird. All I want to do is analyze him so I can reproduce his powers in someone like, say, _me_. I'd like to see you try and beat me _then_, hedgehog."

"But your plans won't work!"

"Challenge me all you want, hedgehog, but it will be to no avail! I shall succeed!"

"No, you don't understand, Eggman! We've learned more about how Jet's powers work! They occur naturally as the planet, sun, and atmosphere mature and develop, creating and trapping the energy necessary for these powers to work! Gradual exposure to this energy creates the necessary genes for stable use of these powers, genes none of us have! Jet himself only has one gene that enables him to use the powers, but not safely! _That's_ why he's dying! Which means that if you tried it with yourself, Eggman, you'll only meet the same fate! You're going to have to wait and get the powers naturally like the rest of us!"

Eggman hesitated a second, clearly not anticipating this flaw to his plans. "Not unless I can synthesize the genes I need!" he challenged finally.

"But how can you know what genes to create if they don't even exist yet?" Sonic challenged back. "Face it, Eggman, you're fighting to support a plan that can never succeed!"

This shushed Eggman for several long moments, clearly stumped. Sonic used the pause to glance again at the altimeter.

"Two hundred kilometers," he announced for Tails benefit, hoping the fox was still listening over the radio, as the fox had been silent for a while now.

"Oh I get it," Eggman announced suddenly, "You're bluffing, trying to talk me into giving up!"

"What?" Sonic proclaimed, "No! I'm not lying, Eggman, I'm telling you the truth! Tails even has the information at his workshop! He'll give it to you for you to see for yourself!"

"Sonic?" Tails inquired questioningly, knowing the value of the information. "Are you sure about that?"

"We have nothing to hide!" Sonic urged. "If it means we can solve this peacefully _for_ _once_, then we need to do it!"

But Eggman had made up his mind. "Oh no you don't, I'm not falling for any of your trickery, hedgehog! No more beating about the bush, it's time to settle this!"

He fell silent again for a second, during which Sonic glanced again at the altimeter.

"Two hundred fifty kilometers!" he announced, wishing it was higher.

It was then something heavy banged against the airlock, startling Sonic. He stared at it in horror as the locking mechanism was jiggled several times from the outside before a brief pause took place, before sparks started to fly as someone, or more likely, something, started to cut open the door.

"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed loudly, "What do you _think_ you're doing?"

"Oh don't worry, Sonic," Eggman assured him in a cruel tone, "the area beyond your airlock door has been pressurized by yours truly. I want your hawk friend alive, see. But it's also because a pressurized environment makes it easier for my assault robots to get around, of course."

"You really _are_ mad, aren't you?" Sonic declared, realizing that Eggman intended to send robots to do battle _within _the cramped cockpit as he kept an eye on the altimeter still slowly climbing.

"_No,_ just forced to resort to desperate measures," Eggman argued. "It's your own fault, Sonic. I gave you plenty of chances to surrender and avoid these unfortunate circumstances, but you refused, and so because of your actions, it has come to this, so don't you go…"

"Three hundred kilometers!" Sonic suddenly interrupted in relief. "Shake him off Tails, NOW!"

Tails didn't waste time to give a response, because the rocket promptly started to barrel roll. Gripped by the inertia, Sonic was whipped to one side of his seat. He heard Jet grunt behind him as he was likewise pushed to one side of the cockpit. Whatever was cutting open the cockpit door suddenly stopped, and something heavy clanked against the door, telling Sonic that at the very least, the task could not continue under these conditions. Outside, more clunking and thudded struck the side of the Lunar Fox as whatever craft Eggman was in continued to bump and brush against it. It was moving about, but was staying at the rocket's side.

After a moment of this spinning, it abruptly ended, and the rocket started to spin the other way, with similar results. As this clearly wasn't working, a new tactic was tried by shaking the Lunar Fox by making it turn right and left rapidly in brief jolts. Something groaned outside, followed by a snap, and the clanking of Eggman's craft against the Lunar Fox lessened a little, telling Sonic that the opposing craft's grip on the Lunar Fox had been shaken a little.

Continuing this maneuver probably would've eventually shaken Eggman's craft free and solved the issue, but then a sudden roar echoed out from somewhere outside the rocket, but very close to it, and the momentum of the Lunar Fox suddenly doubled, pressing Sonic back into his seat again as the burst of momentum suddenly ended the attempts to shake Eggman loose. After a brief second, Sonic realized Eggman had fired the engine of his own craft to cut short the evasive maneuvers, a tactic that was clearly working.

It must have also thrown the Lunar Fox off course, because after a brief pause, its own engine boosted itself to full-throttle and attempted to veer the rocket hard to the left, in an attempt to restore the lost course. This pushed the little rocket to speeds it was probably never intended to achieve, and the forces pushing against Sonic nearly caused him to black out more than once. Thankfully, he never did pass out fully and remained conscious enough to be aware of what was happening.

Feeling nauseous, but was pressed too tightly in his seat to even be able to gag (thankfully), Sonic attempted to focus his attention on the altimeter. In the mere brief few moments, it had jumped from three hundred kilometers to six hundred and ninety, and was climbing still, at a much faster rate than it had before. As the seconds passed, Sonic watched it rise. Seven hundred kilometers, eight hundred kilometers, nine hundred kilometers…

It was about when it hit one thousand kilometers that the Lunar Fox suddenly sputtered, and its engines suddenly fell silent, leaving only the roar of Eggman's rockets left. Immediately, now being flown under Eggman's power, the flight started to stabilize to the point that it felt immensely calm in comparison to just seconds earlier, but he was more worried about what had happened to cause Tails to surrender propulsion of their duo of crafts to Eggman.

An explanation wasn't long in coming. "Sorry, Sonic!" Tails reported over the radio. "The Lunar Fox's engines just suddenly gave out! I can't explain why! We think the turbulence might have partially shaken loose the Chaos Emerald, and the rocket is no longer drawing enough power for the engines, but is doesn't matter, because the point is that there's nothing more I can do!"

"Best news I've heard all night!" Eggman crowed in response to this.

Not long after that, then whatever outside the airlock door resumed cutting away at it. Sonic stared at the door for a moment, not sure what to do, then looked back out the forward window and out at space. He saw that before the Lunar Fox's engines had given out, it appeared Tails was still able to more or less restore the rocket's course, because now it seemed to achieve orbit around the planet, as the large orb now hung almost reassuringly in view underneath the rocket. Straight ahead, the sun was starting to peek past the gentle curve of the planet, shining a bright glint of light at them that seemed warm and friendly. Sonic hoped this was all good signs and that he could let the rocket keep flying along this path for now, and turned his attention to the more pressing issue, the airlock door that was about to be broken down.

Getting desperate himself, Sonic unbuckled himself from his seat, and, moving carefully, slipped out of it and out himself between the chair and the airlock door, which was just about cut through now. Pressing his back as hard as he could against the side of the chair, Sonic planted both of his feet against the door, and used himself to brace the door and hopefully keep it in place long enough for them to reach their destination. Not long thereafter, whatever was cutting the door finished, and the sparks ceased flying. A long pause followed then something heavily slammed against the door. The jolt painfully surged up Sonic's body, but he managed to keep the door in place. The jolts kept coming, however, and each jolt felt harder than the first. Sonic wasn't confident he could keep this up forever.

"Astria Babylonai."

Sonic glanced in surprise at Jet still sitting in the backseat, and saw the hawk was staring at something out the front window and ahead of the rocket. Following his gaze, Sonic worked to try and see what he was seeing. At first he couldn't see anything, but after he squinted his eyes a little, he spied a little black dot that the rocket was heading towards. It was rapidly getting bigger, and before long Sonic realized it was Babylon Garden.

So did Eggman. "So _that's_ what you're heading for!" he proclaimed over the radio suddenly.

Tails also noticed. "Sonic, can you confirm that you're approaching Babylon Garden safely for docking and/or landing?" he inquired over the radio.

Sonic was still working at keeping the airlock door closed, but he didn't think he was going to hold out much longer before he either gave up, or his legs snapped under the strain. "Kind of busy!"

He did try and keep an eye on the former floating city as best as he could as they drew closer to it. At one point, he felt dismayed, because he noticed that the garden was dark and appeared to be adrift and powerless. But no sooner had he thought this, the garden suddenly started to spring to life, lighting up and reorienting itself. Sonic glanced in Jet's direction, and saw that the hawk had his eyes squeezed shut as if concentrating. He somehow suspected that Jet was behind the garden suddenly coming back to life.

It was then that the rocket started to veer away from the garden. "What am I thinking? I can't let you two reach this," Eggman muttered as he exploited the fact he had control over their course.

Sonic could only watch in dismay as the garden started to slide out of view of the Lunar Fox before a beam of green light suddenly lashed out from the garden at both rockets, and with a jolt, yanked them back on course to the garden, pulling them closer to it. Eggman, of course, wouldn't stand for that, and tried to pull free, making the rockets shake, but it was to no avail. The shaking, however, made Sonic finally lose his grip on the cockpit door, and it sprang open to reveal a group of robots crowded in what appeared to be a tube enclosed over the airlock door.

Instantly, the robots started to point their weapons at the cockpit occupants. Sonic lunged forward and grabbed the first robot by its weapon, slammed his elbow in its face, and then pointed its weapon at the other robots as it opened fire, using the robot as a shield at the same time. Gun fire twanged around in tight spaces dangerously for the next few seconds, but thankfully, more damage was done to the robots than anything else, who were too tightly packed together to avoid shooting each other once Sonic got the first robot to fire at the other robots.

But more quickly filled the gaps left by those that fell, and the process was repeated again, a process Sonic knew was running huge risks the longer it went on.

It was then that the Lunar Fox suddenly ground into something, and without warning, ground to a sudden halt, listing to one side. Thrown off balance, Sonic lost control of the first robot, and suddenly all of the robots surged forward and into the cockpit, taking aim with their weapons that even Sonic would have time to stop this time.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. Before any of them could fire a single shot, they all suddenly froze, laced with a familiar aura of energy, and thrown back into the tube leading into the cockpit. Once in there, they all shorted out and went limp. Sonic glanced in Jet's direction, and saw that the hawk was up and hovering, his powers active, and his eyes open and focused. He still seemed distant, but he was helping now, and for Sonic, that was enough.

Quickly, he glanced out the front window of the rocket to see what had brought it to a halt, and saw that the rocket was now safely landed on Babylon Garden, resting on its outer edge. They had made it. Sonic attention was then promptly brought back to Jet when he realized that the hawk was in the middle of using his powers to rip off the tubing that covered the cockpit entrance. Sonic moved forward to stop him, but it was already too late. The tubing was torn clean off, and exposed the cockpit to the space beyond.

But instead of the sudden decompression of air Sonic was expecting as it all got sucked out into the vacuum of space, there was a puff of air, and then nothing. After a moment, Sonic realized that Babylon Garden had _air_. Breathable air for them to breath. Sonic suspected this was again somehow Jet's doing. But Jet didn't stick around for an explanation, as he was promptly flying out the open door and onto Babylon Garden itself. Sonic quickly grabbed the portable computer that was still monitoring Jet's vitals and clambered out of the rocket after the hawk.

It was then that he was reminded of Eggman.

"Wrong move, hedgehog!" the doctor was suddenly heard exclaiming once Sonic was out of the rocket.

Sonic spun around to look at the crashed rocket, and got his first good look at the craft Eggman had used to attach to the Lunar Fox, which was slightly smaller, and had four mechanical limbs that wrapped around the other rocket. Having climbed out of his own cockpit and surrounded by a small party of robots, all of their weapons trained on Sonic, was Eggman himself. And with a wave of his hand, the robots opened fire on Sonic.

Sonic had only time enough to brace himself by throwing the portable computer up in front of his face and flinch, but the bullets never came. Cautiously, Sonic peered around the edge of the computer and saw that _all_ of the bullets had stopped short of their targets and now just hovered there in midair, glowing with aura energy as Jet exerted his powers to stop them.

Sonic may have momentarily allowed himself to forget that Eggman was even there, but it was soon clear that Eggman had forgotten that Jet was there himself, because he now cowered in fear as Jet hovered towards the rotund man. Ignoring the robots (which were allowed to jump down from the rockets to chase after Sonic), Jet glared at Eggman for a long moment, then used his powers to stuff Eggman back into his cockpit before grabbing both rockets and lifting them into the air with ease. Prying the two rockets apart, they both started to glow with aura energy brighter and brighter until both rockets suddenly vanished in bursts of light.

* * *

"What happened?" Knuckles demanded as Wave and Tails worked anxiously at the computer systems.

"I don't know, we just lost the signal!" Wave proclaimed. "Some kind of interference or something…"

"Babylon Garden might be producing it if it's powered up," Tails reasoned, "I'm attempting to compensate. Knuckles, try the radio now!"

Knuckles roughly grabbed the microphone for the transceiver. "This is Knuckles to Sonic and Jet, come in you two, NOW!" he barked into it. "I mean it you two! Don't leave us in the d—"

He was interrupted suddenly when there was a bright flash of light and the Lunar Fox suddenly appeared in the workroom, settling on the floor with a groan. The trio stared at it for a long moment. Knuckles dropped the microphone in shock. It hit the floor with a clang. Tails quickly flew over to the rocket's cockpit and peered inside, but he saw it was totally empty.

"They're not here!" he announced to the others. "They must be on Babylon Garden!"

"Then how are they going to get _back_?" Wave asked, incredulous.

* * *

Elsewhere, Eggman's rocket met a similar fate.

Sort of.

The rocket appeared back at Eggman's current base all right, and with Eggman still in it too, but it did so several feet _above_ his base. But this was quickly corrected when gravity took over, sending the rocket crashing through the base's roof with a smash. In doing so, it ignited the rocket's fuel tanks starting a fire that rapidly spread. Some of the few functioning robots Eggman had left quickly activated and pulled a protesting Eggman out of the base and to safety on a hill some distance away.

"No!" Eggman exclaimed while he was being dragged away, "My base! My notes! My work! We have to _do_ something!"

But there was nothing left to do but stand back and watch the base burn to the ground, taking the last of Eggman's available resources and his current plans with it.

* * *

Sonic watched as the rockets vanished, and the first thought that crossed his mind was that Eggman was gone.

"Good work Jet!" he called to the hawk still hovering there where the rockets had been. But then the next thought crossed his mind. "But…how are we supposed to get back home?"

His third thought came to him when he had to duck to avoid an onslaught of weapons fire from the robots that had been left behind.

"On second thought, we'll cross that bridge later!" Sonic declared to Jet. "Just…do something to get rid of these robots!"

But Jet apparently had different ideas now, because he turned and flew deeper into the garden, completely ignoring the robots, and likely Sonic too.

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed in protest, "What about the robots?" He ducked again as another volley of bullets flew his way before rolling his eyes. "Do I have to do _everything_ myself?"

Chucking the portable computer still in his arms aside, Sonic charged the robots, facing the battle ahead of him.

* * *

Jet flew straight to the very core of Astral Babylon, where the complicated, high-tech engine of the whole structure lay. It was not in the best of conditions. The millennia it had spent dormant had not helped it any, not to mention the last critical overload it had suffered in the incident with the Ark of the Cosmos that had landed it out here in orbit in the first place. So he tried to repair the damage with his powers as best as he could while on the fly.

Once in the core, Jet went straight to the central receptacle where he found said Ark of the Cosmos still in place in the core, just inactive at the moment due to the last malfunction they triggered. Acting quickly and entirely with his powers, Jet opened up the device to expose its technical interior. He started to make modifications as needed to allow the drive to work under these conditions, working as fast as he could, but being careful to not make a mistake.

Though from an outsider's perspective it wouldn't seem like it, but it was a very delicate procedure, and required a great deal of concentration from Jet to pull off, trying to keep his unruly powers in check as he worked. In the physical state he was, strained well beyond his breaking point already, it took a lot of energy to achieve this concentration, and by the time he was done, he was on the verge of blacking out again, only this time he feared that if he _did_ black out, it would be for the last time.

But once he was done rewiring the mechanism, he knew he wasn't finished, and strove to keep himself together long enough to float over to a computer console and mentally give it the data it needed, preparing the drive for launch, and then programming in the course he wanted to take. On the screen, it graphically displayed the course he wanted as he mapped it out, before focusing in on the intended destination, a spot Jet had to stop and stare longingly at. He had long wondered about this place, but at long last, he was going to see it.

It was only natural, in a way. They were calling him to come to this place, anyway.

They were calling him home.

This done, he turned his attention to the core itself, and powered it up. Immediately, the drive started to hum away, drawing the massive amounts of powers needed from the arks, and for once did so successfully and without disaster. It couldn't be seen, but Jet sensed an energy field go up around Astral Babylon in its entirety, and started to create an electromagnetic disturbance in preparation for the drive launching the craft on its way.

But then he realized with a start that Sonic was still on the outer edge of the flying city.

Where he shouldn't be for this.

Quickly, using the last of his energy, just about to slip into the darkness peeking around the edges of his vision, Jet worked to use his powers to correct this problem…

* * *

Back out on the outer edge, Sonic was busy battling the robots Eggman had left behind, downing them one by one. There were a lot of them, and they were fighting viciously, but Sonic was managing. At least he could count on the fact that they weren't going to get any backup from Eggman any time soon, which was actually kind of nice for a change.

He was wondering how much longer this was going to take, though, fearing that he was on the clock, and that time was running out for reasons he couldn't totally explain, when he noticed an unearthly glow suddenly fill Babylon Garden. Chancing a glance, he saw that some kind of distortion in space was starting to appear in front of the flying city. Having never seen the likes of it before, Sonic didn't know what it was or even really adequately describe it, but he suspected this was somehow Jet's doing.

This was confirmed when the portable computer he had dropped earlier suddenly lifted up into the air, lit with an aura of energy, and shot through the same doorway Jet had vanished into moments earlier. A second later, Sonic had his own aura of energy appear around him, ripping him away from the battle with the robots, and dragging him to the same doorway. Suspecting there was a reason for this, Sonic didn't resist. He got as far as about a foot past the doorway before the aura shut off suddenly and dropped Sonic to the ground. Further ahead of him, he heard the portable computer also fall to the floor with a clatter.

Not sure what the deal was with this, and seeing the robots hurry towards the doorway themselves, Sonic picked himself up, ready to continue the fight. But there was no need, as a wall of translucent energy suddenly appeared over the doorway, sealing it off. Sonic then could only watch as the robots gathered around it, unable to pierce it, before the special distortion taking place around Babylon Garden suddenly flashed with light and yanked the structure into it at speeds even Sonic couldn't gauge. The speed was so immense that anything still out on the outer edge of the city, such as the robots, were instantly slammed away by the inertia, quickly getting torn apart.

But Sonic remained safe on the other side of the doorway, presumably sheltered from this extreme inertia. If he had been still out on the outer edge fighting robots when this had happened…

Obviously, that was why Jet had pulled him in here.

But that thought was quickly chased out his head by another as he peered out at space outside Babylon Garden. Only it wasn't space anymore. Instead, the floating city seemed to be surging down a glowing tunnel within space at immense speeds, speeds that Sonic guessed were probably faster than light seeing this _had_ to be the garden's propulsion drive in action. They were heading somewhere else.

But…where were they going?

Then this thought was also chased away when Sonic abruptly heard a shrill beeping noise further down the corridor he stood in, and realized it was coming from the portable computer he had been separated with. Realizing what this meant, he hurried to it, picking it up and glancing at its screen, fearing the worse. And it was indeed the worse, for flashing red warning messages covered most of the screen as it detected a sharp drop in a certain hawk's vitals.

Jet was in trouble.

But where the heck _was_ he in here? This place was huge! It'd take forever to find him without knowing where to look.

But no sooner was that thought made did Sonic have an answer. Jet had to be in the core of Babylon Garden, where the drive was. So, taking the computer with him, that's where Sonic went, speeding down the twisting interior of the garden as fast as he could go in these quarters (which, for him, was pretty darn fast anyway). He kept an eye on the portable computer as he ran, hoping for a change for the better, but if anything, it's readouts were only getting worse.

Finally, Sonic arrived in the massive core, alit with an outstanding array of colored light as the core chugged away at powering the vast craft, but Sonic forced his attention away from that to look for Jet. It didn't take long to find the hawk, who was lying only some distance away, flat on his face, and not moving. Sonic quickly hurried over to the fallen hawk to check for a pulse, only to discover what the portable computer had already been screaming at him.

There wasn't a pulse to find.


	23. En Route

Sonic and Jet talk. Except Sonic does all of the talking. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I was going with the better part of this chapter. But I had wanted to do an interlude kind of chapter to separate last chapter and next chapter with Sonic engaging in a kind of one-sided conversation with Jet, so I got started and wandered from there, and...this is what I got. Might be onto something I _guess_, but we'll see. In other news, sorry this chapter is unusually late, but it was partly for to focus on another project I wanted to finish before August ended, and then it was just a matter of not finding the time I needed to write after that.

23.

En Route

Sonic immediately dropped to his knees and started to do chest compressions, trying to revive the hawk anxiously, keeping an eye on the computer monitor as he did this, looking for any hopeful change in his vitals, but for the moment, Jet's vitals remained nonexistent.

"C'mon Jet!" Sonic snapped loudly as he worked, "You've gotten this far! Don't give up just yet! _C'mon!_"

But Jet continued to remain unresponsive. At first Sonic thought he was just doing this wrong, which was entirely possible, as he really didn't have much experience doing this. He paused to mentally review how he remembered Wave doing it when she had to revive Jet earlier that same night, adjusted his method accordingly, and tried again. There was still no change. Around then Sonic started to wonder if Jet just couldn't be revived this time. Nonetheless, he kept trying.

"C'mon, Jet, c'mon! Don't do this to me now!"

He wasn't sure how much time had passed. It was probably only a matter of a few seconds, probably not even a full minute, but it felt like an eternity to Sonic. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd do if he couldn't revive Jet. Jet, after all, was the one in control of Babylon Garden. Without Jet, Sonic wasn't sure he'd be able to get back home, or go much of anywhere for that matter. Or even stop the garden. If Jet died, he could be stuck here for a very, very, long time.

But there was more to it than that. Sonic just didn't want to see Jet die. Babylon Rogue and their past history aside, Sonic would hate having to face the fact that there might truly be nothing he could do for the hawk.

Sonic was just about to give up however, and begrudgingly do just that, when the portable computer suddenly beeped and suddenly Jet's vitals started to return ever so slightly. Breathless, almost not daring to believe his luck, Sonic checked for a heartbeat. He couldn't feel one, but the computer indicated otherwise. It wasn't much of a pulse, more of a flutter, and could easily give out again at any moment. But it was better than no heartbeat at all.

Letting his breath out in a relieved whoosh, Sonic dropped onto his back and lay there on the floor for a few moments, trying to get himself to relax again. After a few moments, he sat back up, looking at Jet's limp body.

"You gave me a scare there, Jet," he muttered aloud, "but thanks for holding in there for just awhile longer. Keep it up, please."

He was silent for a moment then slapped his leg with one hand in annoyance at himself. "Why did I say that?" he asked himself. "You obviously can't hear me, not likely at least."

He glanced at Jet again for another moment. "But I suppose it's the thought that counts. It's not like I haven't done weirder things, after all. Like, fighting off alien invaders from a big black comet, for instance. Or better still, _absorbing _the whole very being of another race of aliens and harnessing their power to do weird stuff." He chuckled to himself. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's also the time I was receiving visions about the distant past from the soul of someone who hasn't been _technically_ alive for a few millennia. And the time I traveled back in time, _and_ forward in time with those crystals Eggman found on Little Planet all those years ago. Aw heck, now that I think about it, even my dealings with the Chaos Emeralds themselves are weird. And don't even get me started on the times they were super-charged and became Super Emeralds."

Sonic fell silent for a few moments, then sighed. "I suppose all of this is just another one of those adventures," he muttered, "and you've just gotten the misfortune of getting to come along for the ride, Jet."

He glanced at the hawk. "Though I'm not sure you're entirely against that. We may not have been on the best of terms before, but I still know a thing or two about you Jet. I can see you're a guy who appreciates a good adventure, even if nothing but trouble comes from it. Or that trouble is yours truly for that matter."

Sonic laughed. "Why are we always at odds with each other?" he asked rhetorically, a good thing too, as he wasn't going to get an answer. "I mean, yeah, we're both competitive, and we both pride ourselves on being the faster alive and are willing to fight each other to make sure we keep that honor. But…at the end of the day, what does that really get us? Usually, a few broken feelings, a bad day or two, and hard feelings left behind for us to put off addressing until the _next_ time we happen to cross paths."

"And even if we _did_ figure out which one of us is truly the fastest, under fair circumstances that neither of us can argue, where would that leave us? Figuring out that fact still wouldn't change either one of us, at least it sure as heck shouldn't. Probably pretty trivial either way."

"And yeah, maybe you are the leader of the Babylon Rogues, a little gang of criminals, but…" Sonic shook his head, "I don't know, I don't really see any of you as truly being criminals. And when was the last time you four even did anything criminal anyway? Last time we crossed paths, you were actually very well-behaved, and adamant that everything end up fairly. The only one who really wasn't fair in that instance was Eggman."

Sonic sighed again, and glanced at Jet's limp form. "Look, Jet, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this whole mess has made me realize that, for someone I had at first treated like an enemy, you're not that bad of a person. Maybe what we should do is forget all of these bad feelings between us from the past and…I don't know…start anew. When we work together, seems to me that we work together pretty good." He smirked. "Besides, once this is all over, you _do_ owe me, Tails, and Knuckles."

His smile faded after a moment. "Assuming you survive this, of course." He straightened suddenly, shaking his head. "Man, I know none of this is my fault, but…I'm not sure I could forgive myself if you don't pull out of this okay, Jet. I've seen people, _good_ people, get hurt and even die before, and it's never easy. Even though one technically managed to come back from the dead in the end. Well…he more of _cheated_ death, so to speak. Not helped by the fact that he managed to lose his memory in the process, either, but that's not the point. The point is that I've made it a goal in life to try and help people out of jams like this, no matter how bizarre, and…I always feel responsible when I fail to do that."

He pointed a finger at Jet. "And for you it's doubly worse, because I've already promised to help you, Wave, and Storm, back when this mess all got started. And I know what you're thinking, or at least would be thinking if you were awake to hear it, and that's that I'm being too hard on myself. And you're probably right. I guess that's just the hero in me talking. But it's never led me wrong before. Seriously, it never has. I suppose it wouldn't mean much to you Jet, and one could even argue that this is proof enough to prove me wrong. And I suppose being the hero doesn't help me stay out of situations like this."

Sonic glanced down at his hands. "But would I have it any other way?" he asked himself. "If I had to chance to turn down what I do and live an entirely different life…would I do it?" he grinned, already knowing the answer. "Heck no. I like what I do too much. And besides, living a hero's life isn't so bad."

He sighed then chuckled a little. "How did I even get on this topic?" he muttered to himself. "This has nothing to do with me. No, it has everything to do with you, Je—"

The blue hedgehog trailed off suddenly, looking at the hawk. Momentarily lost for words, Sonic sat back and contemplated where this chain of thoughts had led him.

"You know Jet," he began again suddenly, "maybe that's a question you need to be asking yourself. I mean, it's your life, and you do what you want with it, but…" he rolled his eyes, "I don't even know why I'm saying this. And why now? You're not even awake to hear it." He paused. "But then again, if you _were _awake…something tells me you wouldn't let me say it."

He was silent for a moment, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Okay look," he said finally, "back in the beginning, you clearly enjoyed these powers you got. And I can't blame you for that, because they are pretty great. But even when things were starting to go wrong, you didn't want to lose those powers, did you?"

"Maybe I shouldn't be the one to say this, but that tells me that you aren't happy with your life. That you want something more. To _be _something more. That being a Babylon Rogue and the best Extreme Gear racer isn't enough for you. I don't know what it is that you want, but I think you have something missing from your life, and are trying to fill it in."

Sonic paused for a long moment, trying to think of a way to make it clearer as he felt compelled to do so, but ultimately found he couldn't make it any clearer than that. He stared at Jet's limp body for a few moments, thinking that now would be a good time for the hawk to be awake and listening. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like this was something important that Jet needed to know.

"Well, I suppose there's time for that later," Sonic concluded finally. "Right now we need to focus on making sure you survive long enough to even get a chance to do anything else at all."

He glanced at the handheld computer for a moment and checked Jet's vitals. They hadn't improved, but they hadn't worsened either. Still, Sonic started to feel worry creep back into his heart, and hoped Jet was going to survive long enough for them to get wherever it was they were going.

"Just…hang in there, Jet," Sonic pleaded. "If not for me, then for Wave and Storm back home. They look up to you, you know. They may not always act like it, and I know you three have gotten into your share of arguments, but they trust you as their leader. And they aren't at all prepared to have to go without you. Storm relies on your constant instructions to get through life. And Wave…" Sonic hesitated. "I'm not sure what's going on between you and Wave, but…something tells me she'd feel your loss the most. So just hang in there until we get where we're going." He paused, as he laid down to wait, "wherever that is."

And with that, Sonic fell silent, having nothing else to do but wait until they arrived where they were going. He did so wishing Jet has been awake to speak to and listen to what he had said.

But unbeknownst to Sonic, despite him being quite unconscious, Jet had still heard and acknowledged every word…

* * *

Some time passed. Exactly how much Sonic had no way of telling, as he had no watch, and all the usual alternate means of determining the time were not present when aboard a giant spaceship sailing through space at faster-than-light speeds. And if there was a clock aboard Babylon Garden that worked and was up to date, Sonic couldn't find one. Not that he could read it if he found it, of course.

For a fair part of that, Sonic stayed with Jet, afraid that the hawk's precarious condition could turn for the worse at any second. But after several moments, it started to become clearer and clearer that Jet's condition was stable for the time being. So, becoming bored, Sonic took the handheld computer and wandered around, exploring the interior of Babylon Garden, but never going too far from the core, in case Jet's condition suddenly declined. It wasn't long after that before Sonic and explored everywhere he felt comfortable exploring while staying within distance of Jet, and returned to core to wait.

Not for the first time, the hedgehog wondered how long this journey was going to take. Would it take hours to reach their destination, or more along days, or maybe even weeks? He hoped it wouldn't take that long, because he couldn't find any food or drink aboard Babylon Garden, and they didn't bring any of their own along. So even if they were both in perfect health, they couldn't last a long trip like that.

Then there was Sonic's other worry, and that was any unknown requirements that might be needed to guide Babylon Garden to its mysterious destination. He didn't know if it was flying under autopilot and following a preset course or not, much less whether or not that preset course was even the right one Jet intended, as he had no way of knowing if the hawk got the chance to set a course before his latest brush with death. And if it _wasn't_ on autopilot, that meant someone had to pilot this thing, and Sonic didn't know the first thing about how to do that, much less where to go. For all he knew, they could already be terribly off course and he'd never know it.

He did find a computer screen in the core that had information on it, the only one in the whole room that probably had all the answers he wanted for these questions. But, naturally, it was all in Ancient Babylonian and couldn't read it. Every now and then diagrams and pictures would flash on the screen, which Sonic had better luck making heads or tails of, but they didn't tell him what he wanted to know, or were too complicated and required more math to decipher than he could figure out. So the best he could do was just sit back, try to keep calm, and hope for the best.

Thankfully, that was all he had to do, because, quite suddenly and without any forewarning, the computer screen started to beep and flash a message on its screen (which Sonic again couldn't read) and with an unexpected jolt, Babylon Garden stopped moving. Although Sonic wasn't one hundred percent sure of that (as the core was a sealed room with no windows that looked out into space) until he heard the power core charge down. Standing up nonetheless, Sonic took this to mean they had safely arrived at their destination, and wondered what he needed to do next. He glanced at Jet, secretly hoping that the hawk would chose now to reawaken and take charge of the situation again, but Jet remained unconscious still, his vitals still dangerously low.

The screen then beeped again, and for the first time, displayed what even Sonic could immediately identify as a starmap. Hurrying over, he quickly examined it, and determined what he had already figured out. Babylon Garden had entered another solar system, smaller than the one they had just left as it only had six planets. It felt very foreign to Sonic as he realized for the first time just how very far from home he was, farther than he could ever recall having traveled before. Farther than any hedgehog for that matter.

He grinned sheepishly to himself. One giant leap for hedgehogkind then.

He examined the map for another few moments, and realized two more things. First, was the fact that Babylon Garden had stopped only about halfway into the system, past the system's two gas giants, but before the remaining four inner planets. Second was the fact that the word 'stopped' applied in this sense to the fact that Babylon Garden had dropped out of its hyperspeeds or whatever, but was actually still moving, just now at much slower, sublight speeds. According to the map, the craft was heading for the system's fourth planet.

And unless Sonic was interpreting it wrong, this planet not only supported life, but was populated…


	24. Home

Sorry for another slight delay, but as you can no doubt quickly tell, this chapter is quickly lengthy, quickly going on far long than I expected. But it's all good, as I think the chapter turned out VERY nicely. :) I believe only one more chapter to go after this, too, just FYI.

24.

Home

Sonic studied the screen before as he watched the dot symbolizing Babylon Garden draw nearer and nearer to the planet ahead of them, wondering what he should do now, of course assuming he even needed to do anything at all. He couldn't predict what would happen when Babylon Garden arrived at the planet. Would it land? Would it go into orbit? Would it just stop and hover over the planet? Or would it do something Sonic hadn't even thought of yet? For that matter, how did he know that this planet even truly _was_ their last stop? How did he know whether or not it wasn't just a pit stop of some sort, and that they wouldn't be jumping back to faster-than-light speeds here soon to head for yet another destination?

He wished Jet was awake, because Jet would know what to do and insure the appropriate actions were taken. Or he wished he had Tails at the very least, because he was confident the brainy little fox kit could deduce more from Babylon Garden's behavior than he could. He could assume that whatever the city's intentions were, it seemed clear that it was going to stop at this planet for the time being, so Sonic focused on what he knew about the planet.

Which wasn't that much, just that the planet appeared blue and green on the screen to him, telling him it could support life. And he couldn't read Ancient Babylonian, but he saw that the planet they were approaching had a line of text in its labeling that the other planets show on the screen did not, and to Sonic it appeared to be a number. A big number. Big enough that the only thing he could associate it with on a planet like this was that some alien race was down there.

But he didn't know what kind of race, or even if they were friendly. Assuming this planet _was_ their final destination then it seemed likely who the race was. But that still didn't tell him if they'd be friendly. Given Sonic's past encounters with their "legacy" alone, it didn't seem too likely, at least not without a good explanation as to why strangers were here. He also realized that it wouldn't really matter unless Babylon Garden actually landed on the planet. If it stayed in space for whatever reason, Sonic wouldn't be able to leave, as they no longer had a mode of transportation to get through the vacuum of space. Not unless Jet had some ability that would assist them, but Jet was in no condition to try it even if he did have such a power.

The screen didn't say whether or not Babylon Garden was going to land on its own, either, at least not in terms Sonic could interpret. All it showed was that it was heading straight towards the planet. It said nothing about what it might do once there. If it _didn't_ land, Sonic didn't know how to do it himself, or if it would even be possible. He figured Babylon Garden was capable of landing at one point, as it had safely gotten down to the surface of his world at least once before, but it had also been through a lot since then, and he didn't know if it could still do it safely.

Heck, when it really came down to it, he wasn't sure he could _do_ anything. It might just be better to wait and see what happened.

But at the same time, Sonic neither thought it wise, nor did he want to stay put. He really ought to get up and do _something_. He remembered the doorway that led out to the outer edge of the city that Sonic had to be safely through otherwise he would've likely been killed as the city jumped to hyperspeeds. He didn't know if the protective shield that covered it was still up or not, but it didn't matter as it was transparent. So standing at that doorway would probably give Sonic a good vantage point of what Babylon Garden was doing or about to do, and figure out where to go from there.

His plan decided, and seeing that the city was getting very close to the planet in question on the screen, Sonic collected the handheld computer, placed it on top of Jet's still unconscious body, and then scooped the hawk up into his arms to carry. He hadn't really wanted to try moving Jet like this, fearing that doing so might disrupt the hawk's already dangerously low vitals. Plus Jet was heavier than he looked. But Jet needed to come along; he was the whole reason they were out here anyway. Furthermore, Jet needed to be close in case his condition changed suddenly, for better or for worse, and give Sonic ample chance to react as needed.

So, keeping an eye on the handheld computer's readouts like before, Sonic exited the core, carrying Jet in his arms, and wandered through the empty corridors of Babylon Garden. Though he didn't like doing it, he went purposely slow, trying not to jostle Jet too much, as he really didn't know what this might do to the hawk. It aggravated him to go so slow, but he dealt with it, and in due time, arrived at the doorway in question.

Like he had suspected, it was still shielded, and so Sonic could step through it, but he nonetheless got an excellent view of space outside. The planet was indeed close too, close enough that it could be easily seen by the naked eye. From Sonic's perspective, it looked to be about the size of a watermelon, but he expected it was going to get bigger. While he waited, he studied the little orb, and saw that as he had already determined, it was very Earth-like, covered with healthy shades of green and blue. But even from here, Sonic could see expansive cities covering and sparkling in the darkness of the planet's night side. The planet was not only populated, it was populated by an advanced race. Sonic hoped now more than ever that Babylon Garden would land, as it seemed like help was right there.

And he was right. Babylon Garden grew closer and closer to the planet until it was close enough that Sonic could see nothing but planet. It was clear now that the city was rigged to land automatically, and Sonic let out a sigh of relief at this. Although, now that he thought about it, he should've known, and trusted, that Jet had everything set and ready to do this automatically. He knew the tech better than anyone else at the time.

Now the only question that remained was what the populace below might be like, and whether or not they were willing to help, and make this whole trip worth their time.

Babylon Garden continued to drop lower and lower towards the planet while Sonic waited anxiously. Without warning, it entered the planet's atmosphere, and started to shudder gently as the friction rubbed against the shielding that was still in place around the city, flames lapping around it brightly. Despite the flames being hot and deadly, and quite thankful that a shield separated him from them, Sonic was forced to admit there was a certain amount of beauty to the flames.

This continued on for about a minute before, without much warning, the flames suddenly faded away to reveal cloudy sky, a refreshing sight. The clouds soon gave way as well, and revealed Sonic's first real good look at the planet's surface below. He saw an expansive cityscape, alight as dusk settled upon it. It stretched to the horizon on all angles. If mountains were in the way, the city just went up and over them. It was clearly advanced.

And clearly Babylonian.

Sonic found himself growing nervous. This was going to be more or less their first proper contact with the Babylonians, and the only two here to represent everyone back home was an unconscious hawk in desperate need of their help, and a blue hedgehog who was never very good at diplomacy. He worried that they weren't going to make for a very good first impression. Not to mention the fact that he didn't know if the Babylonians would be friendly. And the glaringly obvious fact that he didn't speak the language, now that he thought about it.

All of which was going to be a problem in a few moments, because Sonic also realized, while the flying city started to lower itself into the city itself in a large opening that appeared to be a kind of docking port, that there was absolutely no way Babylon Garden could fly in like this and _not_ be noticed. Sonic was fully expecting to soon be faced with masses of curious aliens wondering what the heck was going on from a hedgehog who probably wouldn't be able to reply because he didn't know the language. Yeah, a big problem indeed.

So much for the Star Trek-esque first contact he had been envisioning.

But he was in for an even greater surprise once Babylon Garden had settled into its new perch, and powered down suddenly, going silent, and the shield over the doorway finally dropping to permit exit. Sonic stepped out onto the outer edge of the city, still carrying Jet, watching for a moment as metal ramps extended out automatically from the surrounding edges of the port to create bridges from the edge of Babylon Garden to the planet-wide city they had arrived in, before glancing around at said city for a long moment.

And promptly revised his envisioning of his first encounter with true Babylonians, because there was no Babylonians around to encounter. There was literally no one living around save himself and Jet. No one waiting to meet them. No one coming to meet them. Not even anyone standing on the sides caring less about coming to meet them. There was simply no one around _at all_.

Sonic was rather taken aback. "Um, hello?" he called out, breaking the eerie silence that had fallen. "Is…anyone here? Are you…waiting for something, or am I doing something wrong here?"

He got no response. He looked around, only further puzzled by all of this. Where was everyone? Was he somehow mistaken, and the planet wasn't populated after all? But then…why the fully functional, fully powered, planet-wide, city sitting here like it was just another ordinary night? Were they perhaps shy then? But shouldn't there still be _some_ sign of someone here? It didn't make any sense. The best answer Sonic could come up with was that they were out there, _somewhere_, watching him, but were waiting to reveal themselves for whatever reason. So Sonic decided to wait for a little bit.

And he waited.

And waited.

Finally, he decided he had waited long enough when Jet's vitals suddenly flatlined for a brief second before suddenly stabilizing again without Sonic even having much chance to react. Knowing that Jet couldn't wait for this, Sonic decided to take matters into his own hands and pressed forward, leaving Babylon Garden and entering the alien city whether he was invited in or not. Since no one seemed to be around, obviously no one stopped him.

"Hello?" he called out again. "Look, whatever you're doing, I need you to come out and…_at least_ talk with me, because me and my friend here are in desperate need of your help, and we've come a really long way to get it, not to mention all the trouble we went through just to get here, so c'mon, give a guy some common courtesy here."

As before, he got no response.

More than a little annoyed and getting frustrated, Sonic stepped through the open doorway of one of the skyscrapers and onto the building itself. It led down a short hallway that ended suddenly in a brief flight of stairs. No other passageways branched off of it, but for the moment, Sonic didn't care about that and went down the stairs. At the bottom, the stairs opened into a long and wide room that stretched forward for several, several, feet, easily big enough to fit more than one football field.

And it was again, _surprisingly_, empty and void of life.

"Helllllllloooooo?" Sonic called out again, loudly. He heard no reply save the echo of his own voice bouncing back at him. "Good grief, you guys sure aren't sociable, are you? Any particular reason _why_ you're putting me through this? And here I thought _I_ wasn't going to make a good first impression."

He fell silent for a moment, and frowned, his brow furrowed. If there _was_ an explanation for all of this, it baffled Sonic as to what it might be. But at the very least, he no longer suspected that all of this was because the planet wasn't really populated, because he now felt strongly that it was. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he could _sense_ that at the very least _somebody_ was out there, and knew Sonic was there. That somebody just wasn't revealing his/her/itself to Sonic.

He sighed. He didn't want to have to stand for this. They were just wasting his time. But Sonic came here for Jet not himself, and anyway, he was pretty much stuck here whether he liked it or not, because, barring any sudden assistance from Jet or the mysterious inhabitants of this world, Sonic had no means of going back to his planet, or even any means of just leaving this one. And Sonic was starting to think that Jet was his best bet for achieving any of that. Assuming the hawk didn't _die_ first, which, for all he knew, could happen at any moment, and there would be nothing he could do about it.

And no sooner had he thought that, Jet's vitals suddenly started to fluctuate again on the portable computer, dropping down once to zero for a brief moment before rising again and then promptly dropping back down to zero and staying there. The portable computer began flashing red warning messages and beeping loudly, a noise that echoed up and down the large room.

"Crap!" Sonic declared, quickly dropping to the ground and setting Jet down on the floor, pushing the portable computer off the hawk so to clear his chest, and enable Jet to begin chest compressions, eyeing the computer screen as he did so. It did not change.

"C'mon, Jet!" Sonic barked as he worked, desperately trying to again resuscitate the hawk, but seeing that there might be no hope this time around. "C'mon! Don't you do this to me! You've got a home and friends to come back to! _C'mon! C'MON!_"

But the screen continued to show no change, and continued to blare alarms that Jet's heart had stopped.

And the more moments that passed, the more Sonic realized that he wasn't going to be able to change that.

"Help!" he exclaimed into the empty room, "If you're really there, then come _help_ me! He's _dying_, and if somebody doesn't do something soon, he's as good as gone! I need your help!"

There was still no response, and no sign of anyone beside himself and Jet.

"Please!" Sonic pleaded as he continued to work fruitlessly with Jet. "You're Babylonians, right? Then Jet is one of your descendants! Why wouldn't you help one of your own kind? Besides, he has _friends_ back on my world! Friends that are expecting him to come back, alive! They're counting on _me_ to do that, but I can't do it alone! I need your help! I…_need_…your…help…I…"

He trailed off, and stared down at Jet's unmoving body, then solemnly over at the portable computer.

There was still no change.

There was nothing more Sonic could do.

Jet was gone.

But it was then that Sonic heard a new voice suddenly speak…without speaking at all.

"_So little you know, stranger…"_

* * *

This whole experience had been strange for Jet to deal with.

But now it was taking a turn that was stranger yet still.

It felt like Jet's brain had once again filled to the breaking point, so crammed with data, thoughts, and sensations that he was once again overwhelmed and couldn't make heads or tails of it. But scarier still was that before now, he could feel all the strain slowly building up within him, but now it all seemed to be fading away. Jet's body felt unbelievably numb, too…almost like it was no longer there.

Was he…_dying_? If so, the very thought frightened him as he realized he had no way of knowing what would come next. Would his existence simply _end_, or was there more to dying than what he knew and understood? He wasn't even sure he was ready for this. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't lived nearly as long as he would've liked. He had his whole life before him, really, free and open to use as he wished.

And here he was, squandering it, ending it so quickly.

It was then that Jet realized that life was frightfully short, and no matter what, would eventually come to an end. Even if he lived a long and full life until he was old and grey, that space of time was only so long, and the more Jet thought about it, the shorter it seemed to be to him. Before this all happened, he hadn't really thought about it, assuming he had more than enough time to do everything he might want to do in the world, but now he wasn't so sure. Reflecting back on his life, he realized he had really been meandering through his life before now, letting circumstances come to him, instead of going out to get them himself.

It was like that about everything in his life, now that he thought about it. All of his belongings were more inherited than gained, and what he had gained, he had stolen from others who had done the work to get it for him. Even the Babylon Rogues old airship Jet had inherited from his father. The only thing he could think of he felt truly confident he had actually worked to rightfully gain was his skill and proficiency with Extreme Gear. At least until he had mastered it so well there wasn't really anyone left to challenge him.

That is, until Sonic came along.

With an inward jolt, Jet realized that was really all he had against the hedgehog as well. He was immensely _proud_ of the fact that he had achieved that much, to become so good at flying Extreme Gear that he couldn't be beaten, one thing he had actually worked _hard_ to do…and then Sonic came around and proved that Jet wasn't the fastest thing alive that he first thought he was. Not wanting to lose that feeling of pride by being beaten by another, someone who proved better he was. And thereby forcing Jet to have to _work_ to keep his pride secure…

It seemed so important to Jet before now, but now he realized that in the grand scheme of things, it seemed so _trivial._ So what if Sonic really _was_ faster than him? Would it really hurt him? And furthermore, look at everything Sonic had done for him, _despite_ the bad history between them. Sonic was a _good_ hedgehog. And here Jet was trying constantly to fight him, and make him his greatest enemy.

When he should really be teaming up with him, and making him his greatest friend.

Which made Jet realize just how very few friends he had. Even while growing up, he didn't interact much with others. And once he left home and became the rogue he was, the only people he ever really _did_ interact with on a daily basis was only Storm and Wave. And he had never considered them friends before, just "employees," and as such, was expendable, and could be done without. And he stupidly treated them as such. And yet, despite all of that, they stuck with him. More than that, they watched out for him, and stayed constantly by his side through better or for worse. They _cared_ about him. They wanted to see him live and thrive, and be more than their leader, to be their caring friend as well.

Heck, it was more than that. He knew without question that Storm would be willing to put his life before Jet's if the albatross thought it would help.

And Wave…

Wave was something more than all of that.

And yet he was sitting here, letting it slip through his fingers.

What had he been thinking all this time? That everything he was going to want from life would just _come_ to him? Seriously? No wonder he had been feeling a little depressed with life before this all happened. He had associated it to come from the disappointment of feeling he couldn't _ever_ fly under his own power, but that wasn't it at all. What that truly was, was him longing for the things in his life he was missing, and thinking they would never come to be, simply because they were things that weren't coming to him. But what he should have been doing was making sure that _he_ was coming to _it_. And now he was realizing this, there was a whole slew of thing he realized he not only wanted, but he wanted to actually _work_ to achieve, things that his life up until now hadn't been letting him do. And now he wanted nothing more than to do just that.

But it was too late now. He was dying, he was certain of it.

There was no going back now.

He felt immense sorrow at this. Of all the times to realize this, it had to be now, when it was _far_ too late to actually do anything about it. What he wouldn't give to have more time to actually do what he realized he should've been doing long before now. He'd willing to part with everything, even the power of flight these abilities had given him…

…if only to have the chance to keep living back.

And with that, it felt like something in Jet's existence had suddenly popped, and Jet felt his consciousness, his very _being_, suddenly spilling out a little hole in something that had been keeping it all contained, and now started spreading out into an expanse that felt literally limitless. It was actually quite intimidating to Jet, but he knew that trying to go back, to stay within whatever it was had been containing him would be impossible; he had outgrown it. To go back would be like trying to put on a coat much too small for him.

So he allowed himself to slip out this little hole, to spread out into that endless expanse beyond this eerily intangible boundary he was escaping from. And suddenly his sensations returned all in a flurry, feeling amplified well beyond what he realized any normal being could comprehend. His vision flared back into existence, first showing nothing but a swirl of extremely brilliant colors, but they quickly coalesced into a tangible surface he recognized. A ceiling. Realizing he was conscious and awake again, Jet looked down from that ceiling, realizing he was in an expansive room that immediately seemed more than familiar despite knowing he hadn't _ever_ seen it before now. It was then that he saw Sonic and cheerily made eye contact with the hedgehog.

Sonic however, stared back in a mixture of alarm, apprehension, and shock, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Puzzled, Jet looked at him for a moment, then glanced down at the ground Sonic was still kneeling upon and was startled to see Jet's own body lying there before the hedgehog. The hawk's body was very limp, with its eyes closed, looking very pale and unhealthy. Jet then realized he could hear the beeping of a computer, and spied the portable computer lying nearby, declaring quite plainly in words that Jet couldn't deny that the hawk was dead.

And yet Jet was right here, standing before both of them.

Jet quickly looked himself over, and quickly saw that what the sensations he had at first presumed to be coming from a physical body actually wasn't physical at all. While it _looked_ like his body, it was merely composed of wisps of sheer green-white energy, banding together to form a shape that looked like his body, but was no more tangible than smoke was. Jet didn't understand at first; was he a ghost now? But then he realized he had seen this energy before.

It was aura energy.

And like that, his mind no longer held back by limiting, physical, boundaries, it all started to come together to Jet.

And he knew the others were coming well before he actually heard or saw them coming, and turned to greet them. Like Jet presently was, they were also incorporeal beings composed of wisps of aura energy, but the wisps formed recognizable representations of bodies, indicating that they had once had physical forms as well. As for appearances, they were very tall, taller than both Jet and Sonic, probably taller than most humans back home in fact, and bore a strong resemblance to Jet, except there was notably less bird like traits.

But there was no denying that they were true Babylonians.

There were only two of them, but two alone was more than enough to represent their race, and were quite intimidating. However, Jet, sharing their incorporeal form now, didn't feel afraid, but rather a sense of connection, knowing these two was distant relatives in a sense. One approached Jet, and addressed the hawk, voice echoing out in an eerie and unnatural way.

"_Greetings kin, and praises for your accomplishments,"_ he spoke.

But he 'spoke' without actually speaking. Yet this form of communication wasn't a form of telepathy either. It was something more, going well above and beyond either forms of communication. Furthermore, the statement, Jet knew, was directed at him and only him, and because of how it worked, Jet knew Sonic would hear nothing. This was probably just as well, because the Babylonian spoke in his native language and not English, so Sonic wouldn't have understood anyway.

"_Greetings,"_ Jet replied back in similar matter, and then added partly for good measure and partly because it was truth, _"It is good to finally meet you in person."_

"_Indeed it is,"_ the other Babylonian replied, this one a she. _"We have waited long for this day to arrive. As I am sure you already understand."_

"_I do,"_ Jet answered. This new state of being he had achieved enabled his intelligence to expand almost instantly to sizes no one in any lesser state of being could even _begin_ to comprehend, and even though nothing had been explained to Jet, Jet suddenly knew everything about everything he might want to know. Thus the two Babylonians had to explain nothing to him, a fact they already knew too.

"_Then you also know that you must now make a choice,"_ the first Babylonian stated. _"Whether you will stay, or leave."_

Jet knew what consequences would come from either choice, and there would be losses with either choice. But Jet knew instantly what choice he wanted.

"_I want to be home,"_ Jet stated without hesitation. _"And home is not here. Not yet, at least."_

Both Babylonians grinned at this news, clearly pleased to hear this.

"_You have chosen wisely,"_ the second Babylonian stated happily. _"Praises be to you, Jet The Hawk. You have clearly learned much from this experience. Perhaps one day we will have the chance to meet again."_

"_But for now we will honor your wishes,"_ the first Babylonian remarked. _"You know what we will have to do to grant this request, of course, and that it may disorient you."_

"_I understand," _Jet answered, nodding. _"A pity, nonetheless."_

"_Perhaps not," _the second Babylonian stated. _"Perhaps there is one thing we can leave for you. As a gift. If so, you must remember not to abuse it."_

"_I understand,"_ Jet agreed.

"_Then let us begin."_

Using their own powers, the Babylonians directed small beams of aura energy at Jet's incorporeal form. Jet braced himself, closing his eyes, trying to remember all the final sensations of this higher state of being for as long as he could, as he felt the opposing beams of energy disintegrate his form. Already he felt those sensations dissipate, but while Jet knew he would probably still have days for longing to have those sensations back, he still knew he would not regret this choice.

And as Jet felt his existence in this higher plane be whisked away, he could only smile at the lesser, but desired, life that awaited him…

* * *

"Jet! _Jet!_"

Jet eyes suddenly fluttered open, and he found himself staring up at Sonic, face etched with astonishment and relief. Realizing what had happened, Jet quickly looked himself over, holding up one hand and flexing his fingers before his eyes. The hand was flesh and blood. As was the rest of him, of course, which a quick examination revealed. Jet paused to inwardly run a mental check of his bodily systems, feeling his beating heart, his grumbling stomach, and the swelling and shrinking of his breathing lungs. A little confused, feeling like his mind was suddenly clouded to the point it hardly functioned anymore, he sat there numbly.

Sonic knelt down beside him. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

Jet glanced at the hedgehog for a moment. "A little achy," he confessed in a hoarse voice, "and a little tired too, ready to call it a night."

Sonic grinned as he scooped up the handheld computer, glancing at the screen. "Well, that's pretty good, considering that you were technically dead just a moment ago."

He showed Jet the readings on the screen. It reported that all of Jet's vitals had returned to normal, and by all accounts, he was perfectly healthy again. Even the buildup of aura energy was gone.

Jet stared blankly at the screen for a few moments, looking lost. He didn't comment on the subject. He glanced around the room, and saw that the two Babylonians had not left, and were still present, but they seemed to be waiting for Sonic and Jet to finish their discussion before doing anything further. They nonetheless seemed even more mind-bogglingly intimidating now than before.

"So, uh…" Sonic began, changing the subject, "I…got a little lost there. What just happened?"

Jet was silent for a moment as he considered this. Already, his memories of the whole experience, from start to finish, had faded, and what he did remember suddenly seemed puzzling and hard to comprehend fully. His brow furrowed as he struggled to make sense of it all, but was failing.

"I…don't know," he admitted, "I'm not sure _what_ to make of what happened…"

_"We will be willing to explain if you so desire,"_ the first Babylonian remarked suddenly through a means both Jet and Sonic could comprehend.

He then waved his hand, and chairs for them both materialized out of nothing. Sonic and Jet exchanged surprised glances, and then sat themselves in the chairs. They were quite comfortable. But the Babylonian wasn't finished yet, and with another wave of his hand, two small little tables sprang up between the two chairs. On the table closest to Sonic was a platter containing two chili dogs and visibly impressed by this, the hedgehog took one of the dogs and nibbled a little off the end, then squeezed his eyes shut in pleasure of the perfect taste it had. On the table closest to Jet, however, already pitted, sliced, and skinned, were slices of mango neatly arranged on their own platter. Also impressed, and not having had the chance to eat a mango in years, Jet helped himself to the fruit.

_"As you are no doubt already aware,"_ the second Babylonian started to explain as their two guests ate, _"We were aware of your arrival at our planet almost instantly from the very moment you entered the system in lost Astria Babylonai, in fact."_

Sonic swallowed the last bite of the first chili dog before speaking. "If that's true," he began, "then why did you…"

_"…take so long to appear?"_ the female Babylonian finished with a small grin. _"Because, we were waiting upon our kin, Jet, to reach the right state of mind. You see, at the time you arrived, he was in a state of turmoil. He had gained so much knowledge and power, but knew not what to do with it. He was torn, indecisive, and troubled, but he also was not beyond hope. We were therefore reluctant to interfere until we were certain where he stood."_

Jet sat back to ponder this, intrigued by the thought, but it only made Sonic more confused. "I don't understand though," he admitted, "what did his state of mind have to do with it?"

_"It would be difficult to explain it in terms you can properly understand,"_ the first Babylonian stated. _"You must understand that we have achieved a far greater understanding of the universe than yourself. We know and recognize things about our surroundings that you cannot even begin to comprehend. Not yet at least. It will come to your race, in time. It is a natural part of your progression, your evolution, so to speak. But that time will not come for some centuries still."_

"Yeah, we already figured out the whole deal with the aura energy, and the evolution and aging of the planet's EM field thingy and so on," Sonic stated, nodding. "Bet you were surprised to find out that Jet had achieved all of that a little prematurely, though."

_"Not at all,"_ the male Babylonian remarked, _"He is our kin. He carries genes that connect him with us. Genes that are typically dormant, but not impossible to activate before one is ready. It has happened before. Unfortunately, some have not dealt with it as well as Jet here has, and chose to respond to their sudden…advances…poorly. And suffered grave consequences as a result."_

Jet frowned at this. "Are you saying that you punish those who abuse their powers?" he asked, a little surprised by this idea.

_"They punish themselves,"_ the female Babylonian corrected. _"They chose their own paths out of their own free will. But many paths only led them to darkness and despair. Whatever the case, it is not our place to interfere with their choices. We have our own choices to consider and make. It is not our place to dictate ourselves over others. Furthermore, we are a peaceful race by nature. We do not promote contention in any shape or form. We wish to be courteous to all, and to assist all when able."_

"But you don't assist those that go down wrong paths by your own confession," Jet pointed out.

"And you didn't help the Babylonians that got stranded on our world, either," Sonic also pointed out.

_"Allow me to clarify; we __**assist**__ when able, we do not do things for another,"_ the male Babylonian clarified. _"To do otherwise means they learn nothing at all. And in order to make the most of their lives, they must learn these things on their own. We can only try to guide them in the right direction. If they do not choose to go in that direction, that is their choice, and we cannot, and will not, interfere with that choice, but we will also not follow them down the paths we know will gain them nothing as well."_

_"As for the Babylonians that were stranded on your world, that is an entirely different matter,"_ the female Babylonian explained. _"You must understand that this event took place many millennia ago. We were not the people we are now. We did not know all, nor could we do all. We were limited by the extents of our own technology at the time. We knew instantly when Astria Babylonai's drive malfunctioned and they were trapped on your world, populated with such a simpleminded and lesser species at the time. We wanted nothing more than to go and rescue them. But our only means of reaching them would be through the same means they had used."_

Jet suddenly understood. "That's means that whoever tried to go and rescue them would only be stranding themselves as well, because our world didn't have the aura enriched EM field you're used to."

The Babylonian nodded. _"And by the time we had found a solution," _she continued, _"it was already too late. The Babylonians on your world accepted their fate and settled on your world, intermixed with your species, and had become a part of your culture. They were no longer Babylonians of our world. Therefore they could never come home."_

"Why not?" Sonic asked as he finished the second chili dog.

_"Because they had lost the knowledge and abilities that came with being a true Babylonian,"_ the male Babylonian explained. _"Without these things, they cannot be part of our culture, which exploits and depends on these gifts so much. Nor could they understand our ways anymore. They had come to understand __**your**__ way of life, not our own. The two cannot mesh together, not without one overpowering, or corrupting, the other."_

"I guess that makes sense," Sonic admitted, licking chili sauce from his gloved fingers. "Is that why you reverted Jet back to normal? Because he couldn't understand the 'gifts' he had gained?" he glanced at Jet. "No offense, of course."

"None taken," Jet assured him.

_"No,"_ the male Babylonian explained. _"By the time we revealed ourselves, he had achieved a state of being higher than his own, transcending all physical barriers, and learned what he needed to know entirely on his own. That was what we were waiting and watching for. When he arrived at this state, he was on the same level as us. He knew all, and had power over all."_

_"But just because he had all of this, did not mean he was ready for it,"_ the female explained. _"And that was something he needed to decide. If he decided to keep everything he had gained, he would miss out on the opportunities of the things he could achieve with his normal, original, life. Likewise, if he decided to go back to his normal life, he could not keep the abilities he had gained. That was the choice he faced."_ She again smiled at Jet, looking somewhat proud. _"And he chose wisely"_

Sonic glanced at Jet in surprise. "You mean you chose to give up all those awesome powers to keep living as little ol' you, as Jet the Hawk, the leader of the Babylon Rogues, and not Jet the Hawk, the almighty?"

Jet's memory of the instance was sketchy, but he nodded nonetheless. "I think I did."

Sonic was stunned. "But why?"

Jet glanced at the hedgehog and half-grinned. "Because I saw there were things I still needed to do as little ol' me first."

Sonic considered this for a moment. "I don't suppose you might be willing to give someone like…say…_me_ those abilities, would you?"

Amused, both Babylonians politely shook their heads.

Sonic shrugged in good humor. "You can't blame a hedgehog for trying," he pointed out. He glanced back at Jet. "So it's all gone? The powers? The knowledge?"

Jet nodded.

Sonic scratched at his quills. "So how does it feel to be normal?" he asked, curious. "Good?"

Jet thought about that for a moment. "More like weird," he admitted. "I think I was starting to get used to having all of that though, and haven't adjusted yet."

_"Normal is a relative term at any rate, anyway."_ The female Babylonian remarked.

"Well, just so long as this is _really_ what you want, I guess I have no right to protest," Sonic said. Then he realized something important, and frowned. "I, uh, don't suppose you still remember how to fly Babylon Garden, do you?"

Jet felt his stomach sink as he realized he didn't know the first thing about flying Babylon Garden. He wasn't even sure he could still read the language so to operate the controls anymore.

The Babylonians sensed this. _"Do not fear," _the male assured them. _"We have other means of returning you to your world now."_

He waved his hand again, and the chairs and tables vanished again, forcing Jet and Sonic to stand up.

"I guess this means we're leaving," Sonic muttered aloud, who was starting to enjoy himself.

"Goodbye then," Jet stated politely, bowing respectfully before the Babylonians, sorry he couldn't have gotten to spend more time with them. "And thank you for your help."

_"You are welcome,"_ the male replied, grinning again. _"And use the gift we have given you well, kin."_

Jet glanced up in surprise, having forgotten anything about a 'gift.'

Sonic also glanced at Jet in surprise. "What gift?" he asked.

Jet could only shrug. "I have no idea," he admitted.

But judging from the grins on the Babylonians, this was done intentionally.

_"Do not worry, you will learn what it is soon enough,"_ the female Babylonian stated as she and her male companion started to wave their arms in a curious pattern, energy starting to swirl off of their arms as they prepared to do whatever it was they were about to do. _"Farewell, Jet The Hawk. Make good use of the life you have before you, and may you live well, and treat your friends well."_ She glanced at Sonic. _"You seem to have several, after all."_

Sonic and Jet exchanged glances, the two realizing they really had reached a new understanding between them. "Yeah," Jet agreed, "it seems I do."

And with that, any chance for further conversation when the Babylonians suddenly directed the raw energy they had been spinning at the pair, engulfing them in a brilliant and blinding flash of light. Both Sonic and Jet hurriedly covered their eyes to shield themselves. The flash persisted for several long moments before it finally started to fade again. When they had, they saw they had both miraculously returned to the cavern workroom in Tails's workshop, and standing before them, amazed and astounded, was Tails, Knuckles, Wave, and Storm, all having been in the middle of working to try and figure out where Babylon Garden had went when they arrived. They all stared at each other for a long moment, the room completely silent.

"Jet?" Wave finally asked hesitantly. "Are…you going to be all right?"

Jet nodded, grinning reassuringly. "Yeah," he replied softly.

Wave didn't need to know a thing more, and immediately sprang forward, grabbing Jet in a tight and caring hug. Jet was taken aback for a second, but was quickly returning the hug just as fiercely. A moment later, Storm had bounded forward and joined in the hug as well. The three rogues stayed like that for quite some time while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, all watched, grinning brightly at the happy sight before them.


	25. Destined Flight

Last chapter, wraps up a few loose ends, then promptly ends with a for-kicks ending. Anyway, want to take this chance to thank everyone for reading, and for following and enjoying this fanfic on to the end! Many thanks indeed! :D

25.

Destined Flight

A week had passed since that eventful night. The first day of which had been spent finishing the repairs to Tails's workshop for any of the remaining damage it had received in all of these events, and checking Jet over one final time at Wave's insistence to insure that he had truly been brought back to normal. Once that was confirmed and the work was finished, life moved on.

Work on the rogues's new airship resumed from where it had been left off, and progressed nicely. Tails worked at cataloging all of the new information he had learned from this experience, including all the information Jet had jotted down during the time his powers influenced his thinking. The fox still wasn't much closer to figuring out nearly all of it, though. He tried to get Jet to help, hoping that Jet might remember something that could be used as a key to decrypt the mysterious equations, but the only thing Jet succeeded in doing by staring at the equations was give himself a headache. The knowledge he had once held that could've provided the answers was clearly gone now.

But in the end, no one really minded that. Once Jet had adjusted back to going without all that information crammed in his head, he was glad to have it gone, and be able to think straight again. Wave and Storm also didn't care much about the information just so long as they had their boss safe and sound, making it clear that they'd rather have Jet than pages of information they couldn't even interpret. Even Tails had to concede in the end that it was probably better this way that the leftover information went unsolved, saying that for them to figure it out now in their generation would probably be "too soon."

Sonic, Storm, and Knuckles had also spent the first couple days trying to figure out what had become of Eggman, seeing that they all hadn't seen or heard from the rotund scientist since the night he had tried and failed to commandeer the Lunar Fox and capture Sonic and Jet on Babylon Garden. Ultimately, they didn't find Eggman, but they did catch wind of a building fire that had started on the night in question and upon being put out by local firefighters, the remains had every indication of having once been an Eggman base of some sort, but no one living had been inside at the time. So Sonic figured that seeing he had probably lost everything of value in that fire, Eggman had gone into hiding somewhere to mope and begin work on his next evil plan, as he usually did.

It was upon coming to that conclusion that Knuckles bid farewell to everyone and departed to return back to Angel Island, and in turn, the Master Emerald. Sonic had urged the echidna to stick around a visit a little while longer, but Knuckles felt there was no need for him to stay now that the situation had been resolved, and anyway, he felt uncomfortable being away from the Master Emerald for so long. And the fact that he had left the guarding of the emerald to Vector while he was away, Knuckles felt even further uneasy, knowing just how much of a slacker Vector could be at times. So he departed, but he did remember to say his goodbyes before going nonetheless.

Beyond that, everybody else pretty much just milled around, keeping busy. Tails went back to the various research projects he had been working on before all of this started. Wave assisted him every now and then, but she also focused more on getting back to her own projects. One of the things she did during the week was rebuild Jet's lost Extreme Gear board, which Jet was pleased to have, deciding that while it wasn't like his former flight powers, it was still good to be on a board again and racing.

Sonic also dug his own Extreme Gear out from storage and soon the two had challenged each other to a race, like before. Only this time the competing was much less serious and vicious. Instead, it was done more for the fun of it, just because they had nothing better to do to pass the time.

And because that's what friends do.

Crossing their imaginary finish line again, the two slowed to a stop on their boards to converse the results of their latest race.

"I _do _believe I won that one, Jet!" Sonic called to the hawk.

"No way!" Jet retorted, giving Sonic a mischievous grin, "I _saw_ you before I crossed the finish line, you were easily a _foot_ behind me there!"

"Where did you learn to measure, because I'm pretty sure I was a good foot in _front_ of you, Jet," Sonic argued back, grinning cockily.

Jet thought for a moment. "Well, maybe to settle this, we need to have another race," he said.

"Hey, I'm game," Sonic said, stopping to check the time. "_But_…Tails is going to want us back at the workshop by now. Remember he said that he'd have things wrapped up and ready by now. Besides, you won three races, and I've won three races now, so we're even."

Jet sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," he admitted, starting to fly his board back towards the workshop. "But don't think I couldn't have beaten you in another race."

Sonic grinned and didn't reply as he followed Jet. Once he caught up with the hawk, he felt compelled to bring up a different subject instead.

"Hey Jet," he began, "don't take this the wrong way, because I like what I see, but…after everything that has happened, you've seem to have come out of it…changed. For the better, I mean."

Jet didn't reply for a moment. "I guess it would be a little obvious," he admitted finally. He considered how to describe what he had gone through to end up this way. "Let's just say that I realized a few things when we were at the Babylonian home world. Important things that I had realized I had been neglecting."

"Well, you won't hear me complaining," Sonic stated. "You seem so much…happier. And you're friendlier too. You're no longer always trying to pick a fight with me, and are instead more sporting about things. You've made me realize you're actually kind of fun to have around."

Jet glanced in the hedgehog's direction. "Well, after everything that's happened, I've realized you aren't as bad as I first thought, Sonic," he admitted. "And no matter how one looks at it, I _do _owe you a lot, including my life."

"Aw, that just counts to one of the several times you saved _my_ life during all of this," Sonic said shrugging it off. "Besides, I was just doing what I do best."

"Exactly what I've come to realize about you," Jet stated. "I've realized you do all these _great_ and amazing things for the good of the world, to protect people and keep them safe, and you act so…_modest_ about it." He looked at the hedgehog admiringly. "I have to envy you for that, Sonic. I don't think I could do everything you do and act the same way about it."

Sonic glanced at the hawk, a little surprise, though he hid it a little behind another cocky grin. "You really have changed," he said. "What happened?"

Jet hesitated for a moment, thinking back to what he could remember about his experiences with his powers and the later visit to the Babylonian home world. "Like I said, Sonic, I made a lot of discoveries about myself, that I was just kind of…drifting through life, letting all these great opportunities that would not only benefit me, but also probably lead to an even better life, slip right through my fingers. And it took nearly dying for me to see that. So I'm not about to let them get away from me anymore."

Sonic nodded, understanding. "I see what you mean," he said. "I think everybody got something out of all of this." He chuckled. "Except Eggman, of course."

"Of course," Jet agreed, also chuckling.

"This whole mess was really something to get out of, too," Sonic continued. "I mean, I've seen some weird things in my life but, seriously, I think this one just about takes the cake."

Sonic suddenly stopped dead in his tracks on his board, almost letting jet fly on without him, but Jet caught on and flew back to the hedgehog.

"I just realized something!" Sonic declared.

"What?" Jet asked, wondering what it could be that could make Sonic stop so abruptly, wondering if it was something important they had all overlooked.

But it was nothing of the sort. "We left Babylon Garden behind at that planet!" he declared.

Jet looked at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes and continuing onward. "Well, at least it's back home where it belongs at long last," he pointed out.

"Back home," Sonic repeated, then suddenly flew in front of Jet on his board, blocking Jet's path. "Hey, wouldn't that make it your home, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, seeing that you're related to the Babylonians and everything, wouldn't that kind of make it a second home for you?"

"Well…I suppose…" Jet admitted, flying around Sonic, "but…" he looked around at their surroundings, "_this_ is my home."

"Well, yeah, of course it is," Sonic agreed, catching up with Jet yet again, "but wouldn't you have wanted to stay and look around some more? I mean, all you ever got to see was that one room, which was pretty sparse of details, to be honest. _I_ got to see a little of what was outside that room, and know that's just a mere taste of what was on that planet. Doesn't it bug you that you didn't get the chance to see more?"

Jet was silent for a moment. "More than you know," he admitted. "And maybe someday I'll get the chance to go back and have that look around, because something tells me I haven't seen the last of the Babylonians, especially now that they know I'm out there. But my life isn't there, it's here. So here I'll stay. And I'm not going a thing like a missed chance to go sightseeing bug me. I have more important things to worry about right here. Like Wave and Storm. Things are going to be different between us now, and I want to make sure it's for the best."

Sonic looked at Jet for a long moment, almost scrutinizing him before Jet realized that was _exactly_ what the hedgehog was doing, before, apparently satisfied, grinned. "Good," he stated. "Because your place really is here, Jet. I think we'd all be missing out if you weren't."

And with that, Sonic suddenly flew on ahead, shooting for Tails's workshop. Shaking his head, and grinning, Jet pursued Sonic.

* * *

When they arrived in the cavern workroom underneath the main structure of Tails's workshop, they found Tails, Wave, and Storm waiting for them, standing before the newly completed replacement airship for the Babylon Rogues, looking very identical on the outside to their original minus various minor details. The group turned to face Sonic and Jet as they entered the room.

"You're late," Wave noted.

"So we were having fun!" Jet retorted in his defense. "Can you blame us?"

Wave half-grinned. "I suppose not."

"So I take it we're ready to send them off, then?" Sonic asked Tails, as he set aside his board.

Tails nodded. "Ready and able," he stated, "their new airship is complete, and all of its systems check out. There shouldn't be any problems at all."

"You mean we have to go _now_?" Storm bemoaned slightly. "But I was just getting used to hanging out here."

Jet patted the albatross on the arm. "I know what you mean, Storm," he assured him.

Storm grinned at the hawk. "Thanks, boss," he said.

"You don't have to go now, you know," Tails pointed out. "We don't mind having you three here. Stay as long as you'd like."

"Well true, but I think we really should be going now anyway," Wave spoke up. "Not that all of this hasn't been…shall we say…_fun_, but we can't really stay here forever."

"Wave's right," Jet agreed. "I think it's time we got back on the road to doing…whatever."

"Well then, I wish you three well," Sonic said. "It's been fun, really. We should do it again sometime."

"Oh heavens, no!" Wave bemoaned, paling at just the idea alone.

Jet snickered at her reaction. "Don't worry Wave," he assured the swallow, "I highly doubt we'll have anything like _that_ happen to us again anytime soon."

"Anyway," Sonic continued, "Goodbye, to all of you."

"Goodbye Sonic, Tails," Jet stated as the trio moved to start to board the airship.

Storm and Wave echoed their own goodbyes as they boarded the airship. Jet hung back to see them aboard first before stepping inside himself, bringing up the rear. He held back for a moment just before he entered the airship and turned to look back at the Sonic and Tails.

"Sonic," Jet began, offering a hand out towards the hedgehog, "Thanks. For everything."

Sonic accepted the hand and shook it warmly. "Glad we could be of service," he said. "And if you ever get in a rough situation again…you know where to find us."

Jet nodded in understanding, and then with one final wave goodbye, boarded the airship, closing the hatch behind him. Shortly thereafter, the craft's engines started up with a roar, and gently rose into the air slightly. The large hanger bay doors that opened to the tunnel that led out of the cavern workroom already opened, the airship then slowly started to navigate itself forward and out these doors. The fit was a little tight; the tunnel hadn't really been built with something the size of the Babylon Rogues's airship to slip through it. But the craft managed nonetheless, and slipped outside without event.

Once outside, the craft went to full throttle and started to fly off and into the horizon.

Sonic and Tails stood where they were long enough to watch the airship fly away far enough that it appeared as a mere speck over the ocean, before Tails solemnly closed the hanger doors again.

"Well," he remarked to Sonic once he had done this, "we've sent them off now. Guess it's just me and you again."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sonic replied, ruffling the yellow fur on Tails's head good humoredly, "which means we can get back to the matters _we_ need to focus on."

Tails glanced at the blue hedgehog, not being able to think of any such thing. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, as I do recall, you _do_ owe a favor for a certain black hedgehog acquaintance of ours for borrowing GUN's Chaos Emerald…"

Tails groaned, having forgotten all about the deal he had struck with Shadow over that matter. "Great," he muttered, "how the heck do you repay a favor for the ultimate lifeform?"

"Very carefully, Tails. _Very_ carefully."

* * *

The rogues's new airship flew silently on a fairly aimless course as its crew gave it a shakedown, to make sure everything was truly in order. But their construction of the new craft proved to be very sturdy, and few flaws could be found, and what flaws they could find were relatively minor. Examples included a wall panel missing a single bolt (which wasn't even enough to make it wobble), Storm's door having a squeaky hinge (which was quickly fixed with a little oil), and one of the burner's for their stove in the kitchen not working due to an accidently crossed wire. It seemed everything was in working order.

Nonetheless, Jet, as the leader, didn't order any courses be set for any particular direction. He wasn't particularly sure where to go now anymore, or what to do when they arrived at the mysterious destination. What he did know was that the way they did things as rogues was going to change from that day forward. No more aimlessly drifting, stealing to make a living, and frittering away one's life pursuing the next Extreme Gear race. He was going to find a cause for them to pursue, a _good_ cause, and pursue it.

He just needed to decide what it was.

But he wasn't worried. He was confident he would figure it out in due time.

So in the meantime, he sat in his new office, and pondered the matter, and had been doing so since they took off and left Tails's workshop to now, well after night had fallen. As his office was still fairly sparse in content, as he had lost everything he had owned in when his old office was destroyed in their downed airship, he looked out the office windows at the clear and starry night sky. In doing so, he couldn't help but stop and think about the Babylonian home world that was out there somewhere.

His pondering was interrupted suddenly when there was a polite knock on his office door. Glancing over at the doors, he analyzed the knock for a moment, wondering who it could be, before realizing that it could only be one person, as Storm wouldn't have even _bothered_ to knock.

"Come in, Wave," Jet called at the door.

Apparently not surprised that Jet knew it was her, Wave let herself into the office, carrying a thin package under one arm as she stepped up to Jet's desk. She looked oddly nervous with herself, and didn't speak right away.

"What's up, Wave?" Jet asked after a moment.

Wave sighed. "Jet, I need to apologize to you," she said.

Jet blinked in surprise. "What for?" he asked. "I can't think of anything that you've done wrong."

"Well, it's more about before your powers really started to get out of hand, really," Wave explained as she sat in a chair before the desk. "Back when you just had your flight powers. And were enjoying them to death." She shook her head. "I'm sorry you had to lose them, Jet. I think I understand now just how much they meant to you."

Jet sighed himself. "Inwardly, I _do_ miss that flight power greatly," he explained to Wave. "But it's different this time than from before. Instead of constantly longing for it, hoping against hope that it would manifest itself somehow, I'm finding myself finally coming to terms with the fact that it just wasn't meant to be." He paused for a moment. "I'm oddly at peace over the matter."

Wave seemed to understand. "I'm glad to hear that," she admitted. "It wouldn't do if you had gone through _all _of that, only to end up right back where you started."

Jet snorted a little at this, smiling. "Well, I'm definitely not where I was before, that's for certain," he assured her. "Things are going to be different from here on out due to what has happened."

Wave nodded, already having come to this conclusion herself. "I'm looking forward to seeing those changes manifest themselves," she stated. "But that's not what I came in here to say. I came in here to say that I wanted to apologize for…for how I responded to the whole ordeal. I…panicked, to say the least. The moment you got those flight powers, I didn't praise the event like you were inclined to do, but instead I immediately sensed something was wrong."

"But you were right," Jet pointed out. "Those powers only _did_ lead to trouble."

"Yes, but at the time we had no reason to think that!" Wave pointed out. "But I wanted to keep you grounded and from using these powers for as long as I could until I could understand _entirely_ how they worked, when I _really_ just should've let you be." She looked at Jet long and hard. "I know you didn't like me trying to keep you from using those powers, Jet, don't try to deny it."

"I won't," Jet said, knowing that she was right. "But Wave, you foresaw what everybody else _didn't_. That the powers were going to cause problems not just for me, but for everyone else as well, and in many ways, put _everyone's _life on the line at least once."

"But then my reaction to it all just grew worse," Wave persisted, getting flustered. "I knew that it was jeopardizing your life greatly, and wanted to find _some_ way—_any _way—to correct it. I wasn't about to stand to one side and let you and your…mystic knowledge of the universe you were rapidly developing stand in the way, I _wanted_ to do it, so I could be _sure_ that it was done _right_. I didn't dare want to lose you Jet, not…" she trailed off suddenly, realizing what she was saying, and blushed slightly.

Jet was silent for a moment. "Look," he said. "It doesn't matter now. It all worked out anyway, and we all got out of it alive. I'm not going to pin any blame on you for anything, so don't go doing it yourself." He grinned. "Besides…I suppose I can't blame you for wanting to…to look out for me."

Wave sheepishly grinned back. "It's been quite unusual these past couple of weeks, hasn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah, it kinda has," Jet admitted. "But looking back…I don't think I regret any of it."

"There is one thing I don't get, however," Wave stated, seeing they were on the subject anyway. "And that's how you _knew_ not only where to go and how to get there to fix everything, but _what_ you even needed to do. I mean, yeah, you were getting very intelligent there after a while, to the point you were easily the most intelligent, powerful, being on the whole planet. But still…all you had to learn all of that was from your surroundings, and that could only get you so far."

Jet pondered this for a long moment, already having an answer, but wasn't sure how to put it into terms Wave would understand. "I think it's because I already knew," he stated finally. "Don't ask me how I knew. Maybe it was instinct; maybe it was some latent aspect of the Babylonian genes that were activated in me doing their thing, or what. But I just…_knew_. It's…hard to really explain, especially seeing how my memories of the whole event have gotten very…sketchy. It's entirely possible I learned that knowledge from somewhere else and I'm just not remembering it. But I thinking that no matter what happened, what actually happened was _meant_ to happen. One day those events were going to happen, and contact reestablished with our Babylonian brethren. If it didn't happen through me, then it was going to happen through someone else someday. But the point is that someday it _was_ going to happen, no matter what. It was…shall we say…_destined _to happen. I mean, the Babylonians knew it was going to happen one day. It makes sense that…deep down…we all knew it was going to happen too."

Wave was silent for a long moment, pondering this. "So you're saying that we were meant to one day fly Babylon Garden back to the home world of our ancestors?" she asked.

Jet nodded. "A kind of…destined flight…so to speak."

Wave considered that for another moment. "Scientifically, it goes against nearly all the rules as I know them," she admitted. "But…even then I have to admit that…what you say does make a certain amount of sense."

She grinned at Jet, who grinned back. The two were silent for several long moments, before Wave finally rose again in preparation to leave. "Well, I need to get back to my lab," she said as she did this. "Tails was kind enough to donate some of his equipment to replace the equipment I lost when the old airship blew up, and I've been working at putting the whole lab together and ready to do some work." She turned to go, but then stopped, and pulled out the package under her arm and handed it to Jet. "Speaking of which, this is for you. Storm and I put it together for you." She gave Jet one more smile before leaving. "Good night Jet."

Jet looked up from the package he was studying and returned the smile. "Good night, Wave."

Wave then departed from the office, closing the door gently behind her. Jet turned his focus to the package then proceeded to remove the brown paper covering it. Once he had, he blinked in surprise at what lay before him. A framed picture of his late father, nearly identical to the one that had hung in his office on the old airship before it was lost. Jet ran a finger over the picture for a moment, touched, then with a grin rose from his seat to hang it on the wall above his desk, right where it belonged.

He then sat in his desk and looked up at it, grinning broadly.

It was then that Jet suddenly remembered the 'gift' the Babylonians had mentioned they had given him. He still hadn't figured out what it was per say, but with his discussion with Wave still fresh in his mind, Jet suddenly had a good idea what it was.

* * *

So a few moments later he was standing in the airship's hanger bay that sat under his office, alone, but to be sure that it stayed that way, he locked the hatch leading into the room. After that, he opened one of the control boxes in the room and disconnected the wire that alerted the airship's bridge that the hanger doors had been opened. He was confident now that what he was about to do would be kept private.

So that done, he flipped a switch that opened the hanger doors, calmly watching them slide open to reveal the cool, dark, night outside. Jet stepped up to the opening for a moment, feeling the night air gush in the room at him, his heart beating at the thought of what he was about to do. He took a moment to collect his feelings, and taking a deep breath in preparation for this.

Then with a running start, threw himself out the open hanger doors, and vanished from sight as he started to fall down to the ground below.

A long moment passed.

And then Jet reappeared as he flew back up to the airship.

Flying under his own power, and nothing else.

He considered for a moment boarding the airship again and telling Storm and Wave…but then considered that this was _his_ gift, given to him by the Babylonians, no doubt for some greater purpose.

So he ultimately decided to keep it his little secret.

And with that, he flew off for a little joy-flight…


End file.
